A Transparent, Wearable Fluorescent Mouthguard for High‐Sensitive Visualization and Accurate Localization of Hidden Dental Lesion Sites

Abstract

Accurate detection and early diagnosis of oral diseases such as dental caries and periodontitis, can be potentially achieved by detecting the secretion of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) in oral cavities. Current diagnostic approaches for VSCs can detect the existence and concentrations, yet are not capable of locating the dental lesion sites. Herein, the development of a unique approach for accurately locating dental lesion sites using a fluorescent mouthguard consisting of the zinc oxide–poly(dimethylsiloxane) (ZnO‐PDMS) nanocomposite to detect the local release of VSCs is reported. The ZnO‐PDMS mouthguard displays a highly sensitive and selective response to VSCs, and exhibits high fluorescent stability, good biocompatibility, and low biological toxicity in normal physiological environments. Then, the wearable ZnO‐PDMS mouthguard is demonstrated to be able to identify the precise locations of lesion sites in human subjects. Combined with image analysis, the mouthguards successfully uncover the precise locations of dental caries, allowing convenient screening of hidden dental lesion sites that are oftentimes omitted by dentists. Due to low cost, long‐term stability, and good patient compliance, the proposed wearable mouthguard is suitable for large‐scale production and enables widely applicable, preliminary yet accurate screening of dental lesions prior to dental clinics and routine physical examinations.

Advances and current challenges in non‐invasive wearable sensors and wearable biosensors—A mini‐review

“…Photographs of electronic components and an enlarged photo of wireless electronics (reproduced under the terms licence CC BY licence Copyright (Lee, et al, 2018) © 2018, PNAS License to Publish). (b) mouthguard device applied to view dental lesion sites in vivo: (from left to right) before and after being used by a patient with caries, to locate lesion sites deformations (reproduced under the terms licence (Li et al, 2020) © 2020 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim). (c) Bio‐tooth sensor WBS on infected/fractured oral cavity (reproduced under the terms licence (Hashem, Kheraif, and Fouad 2020) © 2020 Elsevier Inc).…”

Selective Detection of an Infection Biomarker by an Osteo-Friend Scaffold: Development of a Multifunctional Artificial Bone Substitute

“…Nanomaterials with controllable geometric structures and intrinsic optical properties have been widely applied in various biological fields, such as molecular diagnosis and tissue engineering [ 16 , 17 ]. In particular, gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) [ 18 , 19 ], silica nanoparticles [ 20 ], and quantum dots [ 21 ] have shown great potential in 3D printing in improving the functionality of 3D scaffolds by controlling or modulating osteogenic differentiation and bone regeneration, and detecting dental caries or periodontitis. These nanoparticle-assisted 3D scaffolds have been fabricated by mixing nanoparticles into a printing paste [ 20 ] or by conjugating the mature nanoparticles onto the scaffold surface [ 19 ].…”

Proteomics of Streptococcus mutans to Reveal the Antibiofilm Formation Mechanism of Ag/ZnO Nanocomposites with Light-Emitting Diode Radiation

“…Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been widely used within the oral cavity with high safety and biocompatibility. 9 , 10 ZnO at the nanoscale was preferred for better antimicrobial properties when incorporated into other metals, especially silver (Ag). 11 Consequently, Ag/ZnO nanocomposites were formed by introducing Ag NPs into ZnO NPs.…”