The Fourth Industrial Revolution and oral and maxillofacial surgery

The Fourth Industrial Revolution was described in the book of Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production, while the Second Industrial Revolution used electric power to create mass production. The Third Industrial Revolution used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, a digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that has blurred the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres1. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is considered to be more advanced and widespread than the previous industrial revolutions. Intelligent information technologies of the current industrial revolution include artificial intelligence, the Internet, cloud computing, big data, and mobile convergence on existing industries and services. In particular, this revolution combines all the products and services of the real world with new technologies in various fields such as three-dimensional (3D) printing, robotics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology2.