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. 2023 Jan 4;23(2):588.
doi: 10.3390/s23020588.

Performance of Oral Cavity Sensors: A Systematic Review

Leonardo de Almeida E Bueno  1 , Man Ting Kwong  2 , Jeroen H M Bergmann  1
Affiliations

Performance of Oral Cavity Sensors: A Systematic Review

Leonardo de Almeida E Bueno et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Technological advancements are enabling new applications within biomedical engineering. As a connection point between the outer environment and the human system, the oral cavity offers unique opportunities for sensing technologies. This paper systematically reviews the performance of measurement systems tested in the human oral cavity. Performance was defined by metrics related to accuracy and agreement estimation. A comprehensive search identifying human studies that reported on the accuracy or agreement of intraoral sensors found 85 research papers. Most of the literature (62%) was in dentistry, followed by neurology (21%), and physical medicine and rehabilitation (12%). The remaining papers were on internal medicine, obstetrics, and aerospace medicine. Most of the studies applied force or pressure sensors (32%), while optical and image sensors were applied most widely across fields. The main challenges for future adoption include the lack of large human trials, the maturity of emerging technologies (e.g., biochemical sensors), and the absence of standardization of evaluation in specific fields. New research should aim to employ robust performance metrics to evaluate their systems and incorporate real-world evidence as part of the evaluation process. Oral cavity sensors offer the potential for applications in healthcare and wellbeing, but for many technologies, more research is needed.

Keywords: biomedical monitoring; biosensors; intraoral; measurement; mouth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of search results.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PRISMA flow diagram of search results.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of papers by field of study and sensor technology.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Graphical representation of a V-Model development road map of measuring systems.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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