Authors:
Pilar Lafont Morgado
;
Andrés Díaz Lantada
;
Alexander Martínez Álvarez
;
Antonio Barrientos Cruz
;
Héctor Lorenzo-Yustos
;
Pedro Luis Castedo Cepeda
;
Roberto González Herranz
;
Julio Muñoz García
and
Javier Echavarri Otero
Affiliation:
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Keyword(s):
Telemedicine, Electroactive Polymers (EAPs), Biomaterials, Bruxism, Temporomandibular Joint.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Biomedical Instrumentation
;
Biomedical Instruments and Devices
;
Biomedical Sensors
;
Devices
;
Health Monitoring Devices
;
Human-Computer Interaction
;
Physiological Computing Systems
Abstract:
Bruxism is a health problem consisting in grinding or tightly clenching the upper and lower teeth. Both the grinding and sliding lead to wear of the teeth and produce a noise during the night that is sufficiently loud to disturb the sleep of anyone sharing the bedroom. The tension produced causes problems in the muscles, tissues and other structures surrounding the jaw, ear pain, headaches, lesions to the teeth and disorders in the jaw joints. For an early, rapid, effective and economical diagnosis of bruxism, we propose the use of instrumented splints to detect and record the intensity and duration of interdental pressure episodes. This paper sets out the design, manufacture and testing of an instrumented splint for diagnosing the signs of bruxism. The system stands out for its use of piezoelectric polymeric sensors which, because of their reduced thickness, do not cause any alteration to the patient’s bite. It lets a quantitative assessment of intraoral pressure be made and bruxism
behaviour be diagnosed at an early stage, so as to being able to programme corrective actions before irreversible dental wear appears. The first “in vitro” simulations and “in vivo” trials performed served to demonstrate the feasibility of the system in accordance with the initial objectives.
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