monitoring your health with saliva

February 26, 2020

Saliva allows you to learn more about your state of health in a simplified way thanks to a new smart health connected system: a mouth guard incorporating sensors.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have developed a mouth guard including electronic sensors to monitoring certain biological parameters in saliva.

The mouth guard fitted with sensors can continuously monitoring lactate, cortisol and uric acid levels non-invasively in patients, athletes, or even soldiers to assess their health, performance and stress levels . In the current study, the researchers focused on uric acid, a marker that may be associated with diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, alcohol abuse, hypertriglyceridemia and gout. .

According to the university press release: the electronic mouth guard provides an easy and reliable way to monitoring uric acid levels in human saliva. Unlike older methods to measure uric acid, which required a blood Review, this mouthpiece allows real-time monitoring of uric acid levels in a person's saliva.

The data can then be transferred via bluetooth to a computer or smartphone.

Saliva is very practical as a diagnostic fluid because it can be collected non-invasively unlike a blood Review, it is easy to store, and contains a lot of potentially valuable biological information. Recent research shows that the levels of many substances are the same in saliva as in the blood. But there is still a lot to learn about these markers and how to use them.

The tests were first carried out by taking saliva samples from volunteers. The next step is to wear this mouthguard directly in your mouth, a process that involves testing the various sensors and electronic materials to ensure their biocompatibility.