Sensor helps remove bad habits

Getting rid of bad habits, like smoking, or dieting on the advice of the doctor, all can be done thanks to the new sensor inserted into the teeth.

Eating habits, smoking like smoke are bad habits ingrained in the human subconscious, and very difficult to give up, even under the orders of the doctor.

Patients may temporarily stop smoking, eat less and abstain from alcohol during treatment, but easily return to the old way once the doctor is absent.

However, the sensor attached to the teeth can help stop the bad habits.

Hao-hua Chu, an associate professor at Taiwan's Nationalities University, invented a small circuitry that could be inserted into a hole in a tooth, and it could identify any jaw movement, from chewing, drinking, talking, coughing or even smoking.

The sensor can also be inserted into the denture or braces, and it includes an accelerometer that can transfer data to the patient's mobile phone or doctor.

New prototype devices have been tested in volunteers and the results are encouraging. The sensor accurately determines the jaw action of up to 94% of the time.