VCU students invent a product to reduce injuries from a sharp dental tool
IN THE NEWS / MAY 2020
Jividen and Dao, who both earned undergraduate degrees at the University of Virginia, started out with the idea to create a retractable bur, but that proved to be a challenge because dental practices would need to replace the entire tool if they wanted the safer version. Instead, they shifted to creating a protective handpiece shield that would fit on the side of an existing dental tray, where the tools sit upright. The covering surrounds the sharp top of the tool from three sides, protecting dental care professionals from potential bur stick injuries while still allowing them to quickly pick up the tool by its handle and put it back.
When Dao and Jividen felt they were ready to take the next step, they called on Allison Schumacher, director of academic alchemy at the da Vinci Center for Innovation at VCU, for assistance. She coordinated efforts with the center’s Master of Product Innovation students with backgrounds in engineering, chemistry, business and marketing as they improved the prototype further, strategized on the best materials to use in making the product and conducted market research to “move this device closer to commercialization,” Schumacher said.
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