Internet of Things (IoT): Wifi enabled Oral Sensory System

Here is an interesting use of IoT.

Researchers at National Taiwan University have created a tooth-embedded sensor. The sensor consists of a tiny circuit that fits inside a tooth cavity and can be rigged into dentures and dental braces. The circuit is able to recognize the jaw motions of drinking, chewing, coughing, speaking, and smoking, and the results get sent directly to your doctor's smartphone.PDF version of published paper: Sensor-Embedded Teeth for Oral Activity Recognition.

How does it work? From the paper:

This paper presents the design and evaluation of this in- mouth oral sensory system, which uses a small accelerometer sensor embedded inside artificial teeth. Our motivation was based on our observation that most oral activities, such as chewing, drinking, speaking, and coughing, each produce a unique teeth motion. By recording and identifying teeth motion profiles for each oral activity, the proposed oral sensory system builds classifiers that distinguish different human oral activities.

Planned future work:

Because the mouth is an opening into human health, this oral sensory system has the potential to enhance exiting oral-related healthcare monitoring applications such as dietary tracking. We will explore several future work directions. First, we will design the next prototype, which will be integrated with wireless communication and battery- recharging capabilities. Second, we would like to improve the accuracy of our system’s activity classification. Finally, we will continue working with dental collaborators to improve the safety of our system.