Miniature Passive Device for Locating Lost Dentures in Care Facilities

项目摘要/摘要 对于3500万美国人，主要是老年人，没有剩余的天然牙齿，1.78亿人 至少少了一颗牙，使用可摘义齿可以有很多好处，包括改善 咀嚼、营养摄入、言语和外表，以及社交和情感自信。 相反，假牙的错位或丢失可能会产生严重的有害影响，包括减少口腔 功能状况、高昂的更换成本、情绪压力和挫折感。假牙的使用是一门复杂的学问 技能者和佩戴者往往不能很容易地适应替换假牙，特别是如果他们已经佩戴了 或有影响神经肌肉功能的疾病，如痴呆症、中风或 帕金森氏症等。长期护理机构和医院的照顾者通常报告 由于患者残疾和对照顾者的依赖较高，导致假牙丢失的事件 可能对牙修复体的管理不熟悉。当假牙丢失时，通常是在拔掉假牙后 被放在餐盘、餐巾或纸巾上，或者放在洗衣房里，照顾者和设施直接受到指责 患者及其家属的损失。虽然家庭最终可能要为更换 假牙，这些频繁的场景给所有人带来了巨大的情感挫折和潜在的冲突 牵涉的各方。现在有许多针对简单对象(例如键)的标记和定位技术，但是 经常需要电力和充电，这对患者口腔内的假牙构成了风险。因此， 有一种未得到满足的需求，即支持戴假牙的成年人，特别是老年人及其照顾者 提供一种安全、被动、低成本、快速、高效的缺失义齿定位系统 找到并收回假体。Aster Labs，Inc.提议构建一种新颖的、完全嵌入的、 使用可完全响应特定频率的天线的微型安全定位解决方案 被动式，不需要义齿内部的动力，很容易被封闭在义齿基托基托中。这个 丢失义齿的天线是通过一个小型手持式探测器定位的，该探测器由护理员操作。探测器 采用低频无线电波的谐波反射和倍增技术。掌上电脑 探测器单元配有用户友好的智能手机移动应用程序，以指导和协助 护理员快速有效地寻找和定位丢失的义齿。我们的目标是增加成功 在为假牙佩戴者、家庭和护理机构和医院的工作人员提供定位丢失假牙的比率 信心和安心这些重要的假肢可以找到如果丢失，从而最大限度地减少 制造和适应新的牙科修复体的经济、身体和情感后果。这个 系统设计将遵循多种安全规范和法规，以确保患者的健康和健康 是存在的。通过为戴假牙的人群和护理人员提供新颖、技术先进和实用的 通过定位系统，老年人可以确保定期获得和使用他们的个人假牙。

Project Summary/Abstract For the 35 million Americans, primarily older adults, with no remaining natural teeth, and 178 million with at least one tooth missing, the use of removable dentures can have many benefits, including improved mastication, nutritional intake, speech, and appearance, as well as social interaction and emotional confidence. Conversely, misplacing or losing dentures can have significant detrimental effects, including reduced oral functional status, high replacement cost, emotional stress and frustration. Denture use is a complex learned skill and wearers are often unable to easily adapt to replacement dentures, especially if they have worn previous ones for many years or have disorders affecting neuromuscular function, such as dementia, stroke, or Parkinson's disease, among others. Caregivers in long term care facilities and hospitals commonly report episodes of lost dentures due to the high prevalence of patient disability and dependency on caregivers who may be unfamiliar with managing dental prostheses. When dentures are lost, often after being removed and placed on meal trays, in napkins or tissues, or in the laundry, caregivers and facilities are directly blamed for the loss by the patients and their families. While families may ultimately be financially responsible for replacing the dentures, these frequent scenarios create immense emotional frustration and potential conflict for all parties involved. Many tagging and location technologies for simple objects (e.g. keys) are now available, but frequently require power and recharging, which poses a risk for dentures inside a patient's mouth. Therefore, there exists an unmet need to support denture wearing adults, especially older adults, and their caregivers by providing a safe, passive, low cost, rapid and highly effective lost denture locating system to successfully locate and recover the prostheses. ASTER Labs, Inc. proposes to construct a novel, fully-embedded, miniature, and safe locating solution using an antenna that is tuned to respond to a specific frequency, fully passive, requires no power inside the denture itself, and is easily enclosed in the denture base substrate. The lost denture's antenna is located via a small handheld detector that is operated by the caregiver. The detector operates using low-frequency radio wave harmonic reflection and multiplication techniques. The handheld detector unit is accompanied by a user-friendly smartphone mobile application to guide and assist the caregiver in quickly and efficiently searching for and locating the lost denture. The goal is to increase success rates of locating lost dentures, while giving denture wearers, families, and staff at care facilities and hospitals the confidence and peace of mind that these important prostheses can be located if lost, thus minimizing the financial, physical, and emotional consequences of fabricating and adapting to new dental prostheses. The system design will adhere to multiple safety specifications and regulations to ensure patient health and well- being. By providing the denture-wearing population and caregivers a novel, technically advanced, and practical locating system, older adults can be assured of regular availability and use of their personal dentures.