Micro-Optics Assembly in Dental Drill as a platform

for Imaging and Sensing during Surgical Drilling

E. Margallo-Balbás, P. J. French
Electronic Instrumentation Lab.
Dedy H. B. Wicaksono Delft University of Technology
Dept. of Biomechanics and Biomedical Materials Delft, the Netherlands
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia p.j.french@tudelft.nl
Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
dedy.wicaksono@biomedical.utm.my Paul Breedveld, Jenny Dankelman
Dept. of Biomechanical Engineering
Grégory Pandraud Delft University of Technology
Electronic Components, Technology, and Materials Lab. Delft, the Netherlands
Delft University of Technology p.breedveld@tudelft.nl; j.dankelman@tudelft.nl
Delft, the Netherlands
g.pandraud@tudelft.nl

Abstract—A concept of combining optical imaging/sensing and
mechanical function in an integrated dental drilling probe is
proposed in this research. Optical coherence tomography (OCT)
is an imaging technique, which is starting to be widely used in
medical application. However, most OCT systems are used only
for diagnostics purposes, including dental OCT. By integrating
micro lenses and optical fiber into a dental drill-bit a double
function of the dental drill-bit will be enabled: drilling and
imaging/sensing at the same time, providing extra safety
measures during implant surgery, and off-line diagnosis of the
data after surgery. Emphasis is given on the assembly method to
integrate micro-optics in a proof-of-concept drill-bit. The
current work aims to show the feasibility of an optomechanical
system for surgical optical OCT imaging and sensing
applications.
A solution to this problem is by providing a real-time
imaging / sensing modalities about the condition at the
surgical point during the surgery to the surgeon. Such
modalities would warn the surgeon about the presence of e.g.
nerve tissue in front of the drilling bit that the surgeon dentist
can stop at earliest possible time to adjust his/her surgical
procedures.
Provision of real-time imaging/sensing modality during the
surgery can provide an early warning to the surgeon
preventing these type of injuries. Optical coherence
tomography (OCT) [1] is an optical imaging technique where
scattered light from the sample is made to interfere with a

I. INTRODUCTION
Currently, safety in dental surgical drilling is provided
only by pre-operative planning using X-ray imaging. The
preoperative information obtained by X-ray is being used by
the surgeon to plan well defined surgical procedures
implemented as precisely as possible during the surgery.
These procedures may be aided by image guidance system or
surgical templates. Despite the advancement in this technique,
e.g. with panoramic X-ray and the introduction of Computed
Tomography (CT) X-ray scan, surgical complications still
occur, e.g. nerve damage [1] or bleeding [2]. This is mainly
due to lack of feedback for the dental surgeon about the
undergoing drilling operation, because of the open loop nature Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of dental-drill-micro-optics
of the whole surgical procedures. Thus, disturbances and integration for surgical dental (sensing) OCT
errors that happen in this surgical model, even if the
probability is small, can cause serious complcations as scanned reference light (fig. 1). By scanning the reference
mentioned above. light using a delay line [3], for example, and integrating the
OCT setup into the tip of a surgical dental drill-bit as shown in
fig. 1, information about the delicate tissues in the dental bone

This project is funded by the Dutch Technological Foundation (STW) from the Ministry of Economic Affairs under the project DEL 07505.
1~2 mm (depending also on the focal point of the objective certain angle, so that the lens can be put in a perpendicular
Gradient Index, GRIN, Lens) in front of the drill-bit tip can be direction relative to the cavity opening in the tip.
provided for the dental surgeon. Furthermore, an additional
structure, like a MOMS (Micro Opto Mechanical System) can
be put to provide extra sensing modality using the same
information highway, i.e. the light channel.
In this paper, the assembly of the micro-optics into a
proof-of-concept dental drill will be described. The objective
of this paper is to proof that such integration is possible, and
that it will enable a platform capable of conducting imaging
and sensing while performing a specific mechanical task, i.e.
drilling.

II. FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLY

A. Proof-of-Concept Dental Drill Bit
The design of the proof-of-concept dental drill bit has been Fig. 3 Assembly stage setup for placing coupling GRIN
described in our earlier presentation [4]. The proof-of-concept lens
dental drill bit is designed just to proof that such integration of
micro optics, i.e. fiber optic and GRIN lenses, are possible,
with a drill-bit-like structure is possible. Thus, the drill bit
itself does not have cutting edge yet. To enable assembly of
the micro optics inside of it, the drill bit was made from three
parts: (i) the upper hook part which clamps to the dental drill
machine and will host the coupling GRIN lens; (ii) the middle
hollow tube, where most of the fiber optics will run through;
and (iii) the lower conical tip part, resembling the tip of drill-
bit, which will host the objective GRIN lens. The fabricated
parts are shown in fig. 2.
Other specification details of the GRIN lenses can also be
found in [4].
Fig. 4 Assembly stage setup for placing objective GRIN
lens

The assembly is performed under a binocular microscope

Fig. 2 Parts of the proof-of-concept OCT dental drill-bit:
lower tip and upper hook parts (left), and middle hollow
tube (right).
B. Assembly of Micro-Optics into the Dental Drill
To make the assembly of the micro lenses into the drill-bit
parts easier, an assembly stage was prepared, as shown in fig.
3 and fig. 4. Fig. 3 shows the setup of the assembly stage for
placing the coupling GRIN lens, while fig. 4 shows the setup
of the assembly stage for the objective GRIN lens. As can be
seen from fig. 4, the drill-bit tip holder is arranged to have
and consists of the following steps:
1. Installment of the objective GRIN lens to the tip part of
the drill-bit (fig. 5)
2. Installment of the coupling GRIN lens to the hook part of
the drill-bit (fig. 6)
3. Cutting the optical fiber precisely to fit to the space
between the lenses.
4. Placement of the fiber inside the channel within the drill-
bit and gluing the three-part proof-of-concept drill-bit (the
final integration).
The single mode optical fiber is guided by the channels
inside these parts, and glued to the concentric centers of the
respective lenses.
III. OPTICAL CHARACTERISATION
 The integrated optics-drill bit is placed into the dental drill
machine to characterize its optical functionality; this is to
transmit light from the upper hook part through the middle
part until outside of the lower tip part.

Fig. 7 Characterization setup of the drill bit-micro optics

system..

Fig. 5 Assembly process of integrated objective GRIN lens

into the lower conical drill-bit tip part.

Fig. 6 Assembly process of coupling GRIN lens into the

upper hook drill-bit part.

Light (λ = 1300 nm) from a super luminescent diode (SLD

from Exalos) is coupled to the drill-bit using a fiber collimator
(from Thor Labs type 50-1310-APC 1310 nm FC/APC
Fig. 8 Integration result checked by X-ray: side cross
Connector). The collimator has a GRIN lens with pigtailed
section view (top), and top view of the fiber inside the
ferruled assembled inside a sleeve with stainless steel housing,
channel (bottom).
having 1.8 mm diameter. The transmitted light is measured at
the tip using a Ge photodiode (Thorlabs), with wavelength shown in fig. 8. The result shows that the objective GRIN lens
detection range of 700-1800 nm, and 50 nW – 40 mW power is somehow protruded from the cavity. The fiber however was
detection range. The sensor is connected to a digital power aligned quite concentrically to the lens.
meter PM 100D from Thorlabs (Fig. 7). Three different
In the other two samples, however, X-ray results show that
samples were measured. there is a gap between the lens and the tip-end of the fiber
optic. The gap is ~0.18 mm and 0.30 mm for sample 2 and
IV. RESULTS
sample 3, respectively.
A. Assembly Results
B. Optical Characterisation Result
The assembled integrated optics-drill bit samples were
checked using X-ray Computer Tomography scan (CT-scan) The measured transmission loss is graphed and shown in
(Phoenix X-ray). The image results for one the sample are Fig. 9. The results show loss in the three samples from
measurement at random angular and axial positions. A
smallest loss of ~10 dB was found in sample 1.
Fig. 9 Measurement of transmission loss from three
integration samples.
V. DISCUSSION
The protruded objective GRIN lens of sample 1 as shown
in fig. 8 can be explained due to mistaken in the assembly
steps. The objective lens was attached inside the cavity with
the epoxy, after which the fiber is being assembled inside the
parts without first curing the epoxy. Then the UV curing was
conducted as the final step. This original objective lens was
gone, possibly because being pushed by the fiber. An attempt
was made to put a new objective lens inside the cavity by
trying to push in the lens. Apparently, even though some force
was applied to push the lens inside the cavity, the protruded
initial fiber is stiff enough to resist this force.
The bad assembly results of the other samples are due to
the imperfection in the Electro Discharge Machining (EDM).
The EDM could not really make a sharp edge at the bottom of
the cavity. There is always a rounded corner. This has blocked
the GRIN lens from attaching to the bottom of the cavity.
Since the optical fiber has been cut precisely according to the
design (~38.7 mm) the fiber cannot attach to the back face of
the lens. Hence, the gap appears.
These assembly imperfections cause undesirable fiber-
optic-to-GRIN lens coupling mismatch. A low loss is needed
if deeper scanning length is desired using low power in the
thermal optical delay line (TODL) [3] and the 10 dB given by
the entire drill bit are good enough to carry first experiments.
An improvement in design would make even a lesser loss in
the integrated drill-bit probe. One possible way to do this is by
incorporating high-precision micromachined Silicon based
alignment structure. An orderly assembly steps need also to be
planned carefully.
VI. CONCLUSION
We have proposed an integration of micro-optics,
consisting of GRIN lenses and optical fiber, into a surgical
tool, hence a dental drill-bit. Even though this early attempt
of assembly did not succeed perfectly, an improvement in the
design and assembly steps is within reachable future. Such an
integration will enable a platform of real time imaging and
sensing combined with mechanical function such as dental
drilling. This will open possibilities to improve safety during
critical surgery.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Mr. Marco Pelle for the
diligent and cautionary work in fabricating the drill-bit parts
samples using electro discharge machining at the mechanical
workshop of Delft University of Technology. D.H.B.
Wicaksono would also like to thank Gerwin Smit for his
valuable input during the design drawing stage of the parts.
The X-ray CT scan performed by ir. Wim Verwaal is greatly
acknowledged.
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