Chipping in dentistry
Many years ago, as a novice doctor, I read a publication in some magazine about microchips and their possible use in medicine. At that time, this topic seemed to me out of the realm of fantasy, but today new technologies are being introduced into our lives at an incredible speed, and at some point I became interested in how far the topic of chipping in medicine and dentistry had gone today.
Dental sensors
The work of a dentist can be in vain if patients do not follow the advice of a doctor, for example, by eating improperly, abusing alcohol, or smoking. Dentists do not have the opportunity to observe patients outside the office. Chipping a tooth can help you monitor your diet and doctor’s recommendations from a distance!
American scientists from Tufts University have developed a sensor that tracks a person’s eating habits: a 2-3 mm chip is placed on the tooth surface, reports all consumed substances, such as glucose, salt and alcohol, and sends a report to the dentist via mobile phone. Thus, the dentist can know when his patient is smoking a cigarette or eating a piece of cake. Of course, this invention is mainly psychological in nature. After all, when patients know that a doctor is watching them, they will strive to better follow the doctor’s recommendations.
The prototype of this invention was developed in 2013 by scientists from the National Taiwan University. The main disadvantage was the rather large size of the chip and the fact that it could only be installed on the crown of a denture. However, the newly developed chip has two key features: it is small and can transmit data wirelessly.
Undoubtedly, the use of chips can revolutionize the prevention of dental and periodontal diseases! However, until the advent of this innovative technology in the masses, the only way to combat caries and other diseases of the oral cavity remains dental treatment.
Tooth on a chip
Tooth-on-a-chip technology allows dentists to choose the right filling material for each patient. Based on the tooth particles and the patient’s oral microbiome, they will be able to select the best and most durable material for each patient.
The system works as follows. Thin sections of human teeth and particles of filling material are placed between two thin polymer plates with many tiny channels. Fluids and bacteria pass through these channels. Under a microscope, you can see how bacteria interact with the material and the tooth itself.
As it turned out, the organ-on-a-chip technology has been known for a long time. It was designed to study potentially harmful drugs and their effects on the human body without the need for volunteers or laboratory animals. Models such as “liver on a chip”, “lung on a chip” and “pancreas on a chip” have been created. And in July 2016, an “organism-on-a-chip” was created that used native tissues to recreate the functions of seven organs, combined with microsystems that mimic real human physiology.
But scientists got to the teeth recently.
The current fillings do not work as intended. Fillings last an average of five to seven years.
They do not work because it is not completely clear what is happening at the junction of the filling with the tooth. And tooth-on-a-chip technology helps solve this problem by providing real-time data about what is happening at the junction of the filling with the tooth. In a few years, dentists will be able to take a tiny sample of a patient’s tooth, place it in a device, and watch how the filling material interacts with the tooth to find the best material for that patient. It may also help to better understand the behavior of tooth cells in their natural environment. For example, researchers can use this technology to better understand how teeth form and how they biologically respond to all types of trauma and treatment.
Microchip at the tip of the needle
Researchers at Columbia University have demonstrated a microchip that can be injected using a conventional syringe. It is currently the world’s smallest single-chip system that can be implanted in this manner.
Because the microchip is so small, the development team had a hard time finding ways to communicate and charge the microchip. For example, the microchip did not work with devices near which there were radio frequency units. Then he was equipped with piezoelectric transducers that act like antennas and transmit data using ultrasound.
The first experiment, of course, was carried out on the younger “brother”, which we often see in laboratories – the mouse. The microchip has been successfully used to stimulate nerves with ultrasound!
It is hoped that in the future this technology will be able to transmit more data about the human body. Current capabilities are limited to measuring body temperature, but it is planned to measure blood pressure, respiratory function and blood glucose levels.
Modern technologies do not stand still. People who are tuned to automate the environment are trying to make their lives easier in every possible way, including in the field of medicine. And while some are actively making noise about the fact that they implant chips in us during vaccinations and monitor our lives, others are actively working on the development of such chips. Chips do not yet monitor our lives, but they do a good job of monitoring temperature and many other useful factors that allow diagnosing a person’s condition.
