LiteTouch™ Dental Laser by Light Instruments Ltd.

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

LIL : Just as the mobile phone freed us from wires in communications, so has the design of LiteTouch completely changed the way dentists perform treatments, taking full advantage of the laser to conduct their work with complete freedom to express their mastery and years of experience.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

LIL : The LiteTouch is in a category of its own, as it is completely fibre-less and therefore decreases the occupational hazards that dentists experience leading to such problems as shoulder and back pain, which is experienced with other fiber made dental lasers.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

LIL : Our aim is to reach out to dentists everywhere so we can ultimately help promote the use of laser technology for preventive dentistry and minimally-invasive dentistry, which in turn can help decrease the fear factor among patients and children.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

LIL : This design has taken over 2 years to achieve, incorporating many ergonomic enhancements and state of the art laser technology to address the needs of the specialty areas in dentistry (Endodontics, Pedodontics, Restorative Dentistry and Implantology).

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

LIL : This design was an inspired following a multi-disciplinary research from group of physicists, engineers and laser technology specialists who were well aware of the drawbacks of existing dental lasers. They came up with a solution for an all-tissue, non-fiber, non-articulated arm Er: YAG dental laser equipment.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

LIL : No, Light Instruments Ltd. is the sole manufacturer of its LiteTouch and the Laser-in-the-Handpiece technology.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

LIL : As described in question 5.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

LIL : As mentioned, this was a result of throough research from long-time veterans in this field.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

LIL : All dental practitioners across the globe!

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

LIL : As mentioned, this laser is fibre-less, has no optic fibres or heavy and bulky articulated arms, this is a quantum leap for dentists who want to use laser technology to upgrade their treatments. Refer to our film about the evolution of dental lasers to understand how revolutionary this tool is for dentists.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

LIL : The name is related to the fact that it is actually a non-contact tool and portable within the dental clinic.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

LIL : Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Cadence Orcad Microsoft Visio

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

LIL : To understand the concept, think of the revolution with the mobile phones and smartphones. Just as the mobile phone has freed our world from use of cables - the LiteTouch is a complete metamorphosis for the dentistry world. switching from a world of optic fiber limitations to a world of LiteTouch lasers, enjoying all the benefits of a fiber less laser.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

LIL : Yes, physicists, software and hardware engineers, production specialists, industrial designers.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

LIL : This design is completely based on technology and uses laser technology, software and hardware technology.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

LIL : Yes, as mentioned above, a multi-disciplinary research was carried out prior to the final design of LiteTouch.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

LIL : Refer to the Challenges document we have provided, which provides an in-depth look into the design as well as technology challenges we dealt with during the process.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

LIL : We believe we can make a difference and help educate the future generation of dentists to provide better dentistry with this technology, as well as advance the use of preventive dentistry measures with a tool that can help with minimally invasive treatment, less pain, almost no anesthesia, no drill noise, but yet still use the years of dental expertise to maintain oral health among all, children, adults and the elderly.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

LIL : We have invested in collaborations with clinicians, universities, and practitioners, learning all the time how they use the tool so we can keep improving the design.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

LIL : Thank you!