After seeing the oral health of many of his older patients deteriorate drastically, a Swedish dentist started looking for—and may have found—a solution.
After five years of research in applied health technology at the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden, Dr Johan Flyborg can now show that an innovative, intelligent, powered toothbrush can make a big difference in the oral health and quality of life of older people.
The realisation that oral health plays a crucial role in healthy ageing and the desire to find a solution for elderly patients was the starting point for Dr Flyborg’s dissertation research. The common thread throughout the work was using an innovative, intelligent, powered toothbrush.
“An innovative, intelligent toothbrush can communicate with wi-fi and bluetooth, and it stores, transmits, and receives data from sensors integrated into the toothbrush,” Dr Flyborg said.
“This means that we can see in real-time where the brush is in the mouth, which teeth have been cleaned for how long, and how hard the toothbrush has been pressed. When the toothbrush is switched off, the feedback is immediate.
“It can be an eye-opener for many people to get this feedback, but for stroke patients, for example, who can’t feel where the brush is in their mouth and which tooth surfaces it hits, a function like this can be essential for maintaining oral health,” Dr Flyborg added.
The brush could also carry sensors for health measurements.
“With sensors that can measure body temperature and detect early signs of infection, this innovative toothbrush could become an invaluable tool in elderly care,” Dr Flyborg said.
