title: Novel system for bite-force sensing and monitoring based on magnetic near field communication.
abstract: Intraoral devices for bite-force sensing have several applications in odontology and maxillofacial surgery, as bite-force measurements provide additional information to help understand the characteristics of bruxism disorders and can also be of help for the evaluation of post-surgical evolution and for comparison of alternative treatments. A new system for measuring human bite forces is proposed in this work. This system has future applications for the monitoring of bruxism events and as a complement for its conventional diagnosis. Bruxism is a pathology consisting of grinding or tight clenching of the upper and lower teeth, which leads to several problems such as lesions to the teeth, headaches, orofacial pain and important disorders of the temporomandibular joint. The prototype uses a magnetic field communication scheme similar to low-frequency radio frequency identification (RFID) technology (NFC). The reader generates a low-frequency magnetic field that is used as the information carrier and powers the sensor. The system is notable because it uses an intra-mouth passive sensor and an external interrogator, which remotely records and processes information regarding a patient's dental activity. This permits a quantitative assessment of bite-force, without requiring intra-mouth batteries, and can provide supplementary information to polysomnographic recordings, current most adequate early diagnostic method, so as to initiate corrective actions before irreversible dental wear appears. In addition to describing the system's operational principles and the manufacture of personalized prototypes, this report will also demonstrate the feasibility of the system and results from the first in vitro and in vivo trials.
authors.affiliation: Mechanical Engineering Department at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain. adiaz@etsii.upm.es
authors.forename: Andres Diaz
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Lantada
authors.forename: Carlos González
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Bris
authors.forename: Pilar Lafont
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Morgado
authors.forename: Jesús Sanz
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Maudes
mesh_terms: D001732:Bite Force; D002012:Bruxism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019719:Diagnostic Equipment; D006801:Humans; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D014070:Tooth
keywords: biomedical monitoring; biomedical telemetry; magnetic field communication; wireless communication