Smart Dental: A new Frontier?

Smart dental is becoming an area of interest for RF microelectronics researchers and dental practitioners. It promises to attract significant interest from industry. The ability to wirelessly monitor oral health with minimum invasion with minimum power devices is clearly a major advantage. However, the mouth cavity does not allow for easy transmission of waves due to its complex structure and constantly changing and variable environment. In this presentation the speaker will discuss current trends in implantable devices for dental fixtures and orthodontics. The challenges in placing devices, including sensors and miniaturized antenna will be outlined. Recent work by the authors have shown that it is possible to embed self-powered especially designed devices into dental fixtures and use then for various monitoring purposes including teeth health and even on longer terms predict illnesses in the body.