Researchers have developed a new wearable technology, which is fitted in a patient's tooth and tracks eating and drinking habits for the dentist.
Think twice before ignoring a dentist's advice as a new technology will reveal your lies to dentists. Researchers at the National Taiwan University's UbiComp Lab have developed a new technology, which will work as a personal dentist spy. A small chip embedded in a tooth will track if a patient has followed the dentist's advice to shun smoking or eat less.
The tiny sensor fits in a tooth cavity, which tracks and sends data from an accelerometer to a smartphone.
The device will be very useful in the dental industry, says Trevor Johnson, vice-chair of research at the Faculty of General Dental Practice in the UK.
"This could have a number of uses in dentistry, for example as a research tool, for monitoring patients who clench or grind their teeth, and for assessing the impact of various dental interventions," he added.
The small embedded circuit records the jaw motion and how much time a patient has spent chewing, coughing, smoking, drinking or speaking. The data is then transferred to a smartphone via Bluetooth. Developers Haohua Chu and colleagues at National Taiwan University in Taipei found that the data collected by the prototype sensor was 94 percent accurate when tested on 8 people. Currently, the prototype requires a wired connection but it will be wireless once it is successfully launched into the market, according to New Scientist.
Researchers will present their findings at the International Symposium on Wearable Computers in Zurich, Switzerland, which will be held in September.
