DEVELOPMENT OF A FORCE-SENSING TOOTHBRUSH INSTRUMENT USING PIC MICROCONTROLLER TECHNOLOGY FOR DENTAL HYGIENE

The design of a novel instrument for the measurement of toothbrushing force applied through the bristle axis using an off-the-shelf hollow-h andled toothbrush is presented, Dental clinicians require to provide t oothbrushing instruction and advise their patients to avoid brushing f orces that damage the teeth. This instrument allows patient's brushing forces to be measured. Digitised force measurements are captured by a miniature micro-controller and transmitted to a graphics display usin g a 418 MHz radio transmitter. The adoption of modern microelectronic manufacturing has allowed the toothbrush electronics and power supply to be integrated into an off-the-shelf folding brush handle so that cl inical protocols may be conducted unimpeded by the measurement apparat us, A personal computer provides an on-line display of the force-time measurements during toothbrushing. The signal trace is then analysed t o extract clinically relevant measurements.