The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but your mouth tells a story—and paying attention to that story may be the key to understanding more about human health.
Researchers from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University have created an accelerometer sensor embedded in an artificial tooth that successfully monitors and identifies human oral activity. The device was first presented in early September in Switzerland at the International Symposium of Wearable Computers. The scientists who created the device conducted a laboratory experiment with 8 participants performing four common oral activities: chewing, drinking, coughing and speaking. The study showed that the tooth sensor is 93.8% accurate in recognizing oral activity.
The team claims that the information collected by the sensor could be very valuable to dentists, doctors and other medical professionals, since the device provides information about teeth grinding, eating and drinking, and even reveals information about stress levels. The team’s current focus is on improving the sensor and they expect to have a wireless sensor available soon that will fit inside of a normal crown.