Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi

DENTAL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION HUB (DTIH)

(Supported By Department of Science & Technology, GoI and Indian Council of Medical Research -ICMR)

DENTAL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION HUB (DTIH) is a first of its kind, dedicated center for innovation as well as designing and development of dental technologies. Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under its Bio-Medical Device and Technology Development (BDTD) Program, DTIH has been set up on the 3rd floor of the Phase II Building, MAIDS. Through this funding, DTIH has undertaken 8 technologies based at different dental and technical institutes across the country. DTIH has also been approved and funded to set up an ICMR – Centre for Advanced Research (CAR), making it the only one in the dental domain. This funding comes with support for 8 more specific dental technologies to be taken up for development.

Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS), being a recognized tertiary “Centre of excellence” for providing oral health care services under Govt of NCT of Delhi, has received funding from the DST and ICMR, to set up a center dedicated to Dental Technology Innovations and conversions of indigenous lab scale technology systems/prototype and replications in identified new & emerging areas of Dentistry. DTIH is an initiative bring the knowledge, skill, expertise and proficiency of researchers, industry as well as the technical teams on one platform to promote successful collaboration.

HUB MANAGEMENT PANEL

NEED FOR INNOVATION HUBS LIKE DTIH

• India is importing almost 90% of the dental technology used for the purpose of dental treatment. High cost of the existing available technology and materials are the main hindrance to making oral care affordable. There is urgent need to break dependence on expensive imports and create indigenous technologies, which are affordable, comparable in quality and more fitting for local health-care scenario.
• Drawbacks with currently available low-cost technologies developed by ‘reverse engineering’ include issues related to safety, uncertain clinical validation, and/or difficulties in application in the Indian context. Set-ups like DTIH will facilitate clinical validation as well as in-vitro and clinical testing of indigenously developed technologies, provide support to protect intellectual property of Indian scientists (and institutions) and yet develop a stream-lined pathway from an innovative idea to a marketable product.
• Most of the Dental research is academically oriented and is seldom translated to physical and commercially viable products and services. The need of the hour is to provide a platform dedicated to the dental sciences, which can provide an environment conducive to the development of innovative indigenous solutions relevant to the Indian health-care context.
• Make in India initiative and Atmanirbhar Bharat by the Indian Government can also be supported by set ups like DTIH

EXECUTIVE BOARD

1. Chairperson; Dr. Balram Bhargava, (Former Secy-DHR & DG-ICMR)
2. Chief Advisor; Prof. Mahesh Verma,Vice-Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University; Professor Emeritus, MAIDS
3. Member; Director-Principal, MAIDS
4. Member-Secretary; Prof. Sangeeta Talwar, Principal Investigator, DTIH; (Former Director-Principal, MAIDS)
5. Member-Convenor; Prof. Ruchika Roongta Nawal, Principal Investigator, DTIH; Prof & Head, Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics
6. Member; Scientist, Representative from Department of Science & Technology (DST)/ Indian Council of medical Research (ICMR)
7. Member; Dr. Ayesha Chaudhary, Industry and Product Innovation Expert; Adjunct Professor, IIT Jodhpur
8. Member; Representative from Dental Industry (By invite)

OBJECTIVE AND MISSION DTIH

is mainly focusing on areas specific to our country to keep pace with technology improvements taking place globally. This center has an objective and mission of working in the area of oral health research for development of dental equipment /materials and is currently a Nodal Centre to promote dental technology development research for not only the students and faculty at MAIDS, but also dental institutes nationwide. After due clinical trials, licensing, and approvals these can then be made available to manufacturing for mass use.

DTIH aims to facilitate the complete journey from the inception of the idea, product validation, production of prototypes/ working models to making it commercially viable. It is a platform to bring the knowledge, skill, expertise and proficiency of researchers, industry as well as the technical teams on one platform to promote successful collaboration.

SCOPE OF WORK OF THE HUB

1. Healthcare innovation: from conceptualizing a new product to translation to industry.
2. Create a center for training manpower for dental industry.
3. Creating environment for brainstorming, infrastructure for carrying out validation tests for students, dental industry start-ups.
4. Work on organizing workshops, lectures and hands on sessions for dental graduates for structured training on biomedical product development from defining a problem to market dispensation of the product.
5. Collaborate with leading healthcare, engineering and product design institutes for revisiting /restructure dental device development models based on recent evidence.
6. Collaborating with established industries as well as biomedical start-ups for interactions on translation from knowledge know how to commercialization of product.
7. Working with start-ups to up scale production of validated prototypes.
8. Act as a center for providing seed grant to start ups for promotion of indigenous dental industry.

PRODUCT CYCLE FOR DENTAL TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS

The product cycle for dental technological innovations typically follows a pattern of development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. In the development phase, researchers and engineers work on creating and refining new dental technologies, such as advanced imaging systems, robotic-assisted surgery tools, or innovative dental materials. Once a technology is ready for market, it enters the introduction phase, where it is launched and made available to dental professionals and clinics.

As the benefits and effectiveness of the dental innovation become more widely recognized, the technology enters the growth phase. More dental professionals start incorporating the innovation into their practices, leading to increased sales and market penetration. Companies may invest in further research and development to enhance the technology or expand its capabilities to meet evolving needs.

PLANNED PRODUCT CYCLE AT DTIH

 

PHASE I – Achieved by utilizing the existing collaboration between Academia, Technical Institutes and Industry Experts along with resources created at the Comprehensive Lab Facility at DTIH, MAIDS

PHASE II – Testing at DTIH’s Comprehensive Lab Facility, Pilot Manufacturing in association with existing facilities like ICMR funded Centers of Excellence at Engineering Institutes, Providing assistance for regulatory clearances by trained manpower at DTIH. 

PHASE III – Subject-area expertise and robust infrastructural support for clinical trials, existing and future industry collaborations to enable manufacturing and market penetration, available expert pool for all specialties to mobilize as key opinion leaders for different products.

HUB FACILITIES
In order to achieve these objectives, DTIH is setting up a comprehensive testing facility. A mechanical testing and facility for clinical simulation is being developed with State-of-the-Art Technology including –

• Chewing Simulator
• Thermocycler
• CAD/CAM Laboratory
• 3D Laser Scanning System
• 3D Printing Laboratory
• Universal Testing Machine
• Digital Designing Software
• Digital Chair Side Spectrometer
• Microhardness Testing Machine 
• Patient Care Simulator - Haptic Simulator
• Patient Care Simulator - with magnification for preclinical testing
• Pre-clinical/ Clinical testing recording and documentation device
• Force and Wear Measurement Device
• Air Abrasion Unit

This facility is proposed to be further augmented with future collaborations.

INCUBATED TECHNOLOGIES
At present, DTIH has undertaken 16 projects, in collaboration with premier institutes of India, including development of both innovative and indigenous products focusing on Materials Research, Equipment Research and Software Development. 

FUNDED BY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY