The past 30th of march, the team led by Dr. Gierad Laput, filed a patent at the US Patent and Trademark Office, under the name “DIAGNOSIS AND MONITORING OF BRUXISM USING EARBUD MOTION SENSORS”.
Dr. Laput, works on a human investigation. He is “Computer Scientist, and a Senior Research and Engineering Manager at Apple Inc.
We have been using polysomnography (PSG) or electromyography (ECM) as tools in the diagnosis of Oral Sleep Disorders. Most of these devices started to be used only in hospitals. In recent years, our relations with neurologists have been more strong, and even a new specialty has been born, Sleep Oral Medicine. Nowadays we start to have “in-home” apps or gadgets.
As dental professionals, we might find this new application of Apple Airpods, very very useful in the future. We know that bruxism is one of the most common parafunctions. It can occur as a nocturnal or diurnal habit. And its consequences are well known to us. Teeth aging, abfractions, sensitivity, TMJ pathology, muscle, and orofacial pain. And also the “emotions like anxiety and stress, anger, frustration or tension”.
Is there a way to do a home diagnosis and monitoring? Could these devices help us even to prevent or treat these parafunctional behaviors?
Could we use the incorporated microphones to understand the specific pathologies of the TMJ? Could we use them to understand specific “clicks” when the TMJ moves? Or sand sounds when we have a TMJ arthrosis? Could the accelerometers be used to evaluate the TMJ movements? Or could we use them to understand where a patient does more force when they eat or bite?
Could all those things be evaluated in one app? And could these data be sent to their dentists, so it can be evaluated, and a proper treatment plan for the patient be developed?
I can’t wait to see what these new possibilities will bring for our patients and also for us!
