A visit to the dentist is always a dreaded affair, for it’s about the pain injected by the various drills and injections put in your mouth. Ironically the dental anesthesia, which is performed to reduce pain during treatment, is the most painful step as the needle is directly injected into the mouth. The pain is also high due to pressure on the facial nerves. Korean startup MediHub has developed a unique digital automatic drug injector i-JECT specially designed for dental anesthesia treatment. The company had launched its first product in May 2019 and is gearing up for a smarter version in 2021.
Smart & Small device with smooth operation
i-JECT has been developed through joint research and development with the medical device R&BD platform at Seoul National University Dental Hospital. It is an ergonomic design and state of the art patented technology that helps dental patients with painless anesthesia procedures. Dental practitioners have widely supported the digital automatic drug injector in S. Korea to offer painless anesthesia for its stability and smoothness. Unlike standard syringes, i-JECT has a firmer grip and has the same length of insertion for easy use. Also, it is made a small, lightweight wireless type with a pistol-type design considering the grip feeling to reduce hand fatigue. i-JECT comes with two removable batteries as standard, so when the battery life is over, or it is not charged, you can use it by replacing it with a spare battery.
i-JECT’s upgraded version ‘Smart Automatic Drug Injector’ has been developed using IoT and has enhanced safety features. The Auto Aspiration Function of the device has a movable shaft that helps the dental practitioner check the right injection point and prevent medical accidents. The BPC function checks the blood pressure and assesses whether the blood is flowing through the needle correctly, and its RFID function prevents any duplication usage of drugs. It addresses the many problems faced by dental hospitals like the usage of drugs and supplies, the expiration of drug stock, and drug inventory checking.
The IoT application for the Smart Automatic Drug Injector means that it is compatible with mobile devices and helps in real-time drug management for hospitals. A MediHub official said, “In some existing anesthesia devices, when the needle is removed after injecting the anesthetic solution, a large amount of anesthetic liquid flows out of the needle due to residual pressure, causing inconvenience to the surgeon. The smart injector is equipped with a function that removes residual pressure and eliminates the flow of anesthetic fluid.” i-JECT has been developed using a pain relief clinical algorithm that is said to reduce anesthesia pain by more than 80% and has improved convenience for anaesthesiologists with a precision automatic injection system.
The startup aims to conquer the domestic market & enter the overseas market
In 2020, 30% of the domestic anesthesia equipment market is estimated in the dental field, and the dental anesthesia equipment market size is estimated to 89.5 billion won. i-JECT’s digital version is already got good reviews from dental practitioners, and its smart version is also being looked forward to.
The startup’s goal is to achieve 50% brand recognition by 2022 by receiving feedback from domestic dentists and targeting the overseas market. In June, MediHub signed a contract for a strategic alliance for investment and marketing with the global pharmaceutical company ‘Huons.’ The startup has also signed an MOU with Biogenesis Bago S.A., a Global Animal Pharmaceutical manufacturer for veterinary treatment.
MediHub is participating in the third edition of the “TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean startup showcase” to be held online on September 23-24,2020. TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for startup Korea) is South Korean government-backed incubator, and beSUCCESS is Korea’s leading startup media company. The highly successful first two editions of the startup showcase were held in San Francisco and Palo Alto.
