Smart Tooth, a Continuous Glucose Monitor Utilizing Pulsed Photoacoustic Technology

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) has been ubiquitously utilized in the continuous measurements of glucose level in the body. Although the most exploited site is the surface epithelial tissues, none has utilized human teeth as a site of measurement. In this dissertation, human teeth have showed to be an alternative and promising site for this measurement. For the first time, it has been shown successfully that photoacoustic spectroscopy using NIR laser on molar tooth was able to measure continuous increase of glucose level in the open pulp chamber with a mixture of blood and glucose. The specificity of glucose molecule was also tested against other artificial commercial sweeteners and was found that the photoacoustic spectroscopy on some high absorbing wavelengths is very specific on detecting the glucose molecule. Some feasibility of applying this methodology for the mouth was also explored such as miniaturizing electronic components and incorporating into the crown of the tooth and integrating into the oral maxillofacial system. Finally, the power supply system for such a smart tooth was explored and presented.