Modern wearable technological solutions for human health that are presented in the form of insulin scanners and fitness bracers help people monitor current organism indicators. This information may then be recorded and provided to the doctor during the examination to enhance the diagnostic process.
Recently, a group of scientists from MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Aarhus University presented a similar solution for dentistry – dental braces that can be equipped with different types of sensors to monitor in-mouth interaction data.
This device is printed individually for each user, according to their dental scan, to fit the specific biological structure of the mouth cavity. These bracers, in fact, are a customizable platform that may be equipped with various sensors, and their applications are not limited to dentistry only.
How does it work?
This device – called "MouthIO" – looks like transparent dental bracers that should be placed on patient teeth like their usual analog for occlusion corrections. Scientists created a unique software for Blender – a digital 3D modeling environment – that can adapt a patient's dental scan into a printable model that can be made in a few hours and costs only about $15.
Then, braces may be integrated with a full spectrum of scanners that can monitor temperature, acceleration, and even tongue-touches. Additionally, users can equip MouthIO with actuators, such as vibration modules.
Where can we use it?
During the experiments, scientists found that this system can effectively track bruxism with a MouthIO accelerator or provide health insights about the potentially dangerous pathogens in your saliva. Temperature sensors can warn with vibration actuators if your drink is too hot to prevent enamel damage, which can be especially useful for users with mouth numbness.
According to the developers, in the future, they plan to customize a tongue touch system for people with motor impairments by connecting them to small touchpads via Bluetooth. Thus, users can, for example, use their tongues to scroll a webpage or read E-books.
