Smart toothbrush designed to detect heart disease

Posted on 2018-01-02

The reason for your next heart check-up at your local GP may come from an unlikely source. Smart toothbrushes are being developed which could provide regular updates on your heart health in the future.

A device like this could impact millions of people's health in a positive way. It would take information from saliva to detect changes which can be used to signal if the user has an increased risk of a cardiac disease. Due to the frequency of which toothbrushes are used, this device could spot the risk of heart failure as soon as it appears, warning users to take immediate action.

The Spanish researchers believe that if the smart toothbrush works, it will become integrated into our daily lives providing patients and doctors with more information to correctly adjust medication accordingly.

Cardiac disease can be monitored by sodium levels in saliva, which become raised when the heart struggles to pump the blood around the body. Researchers believe the toothbrush could have more applications, possibly monitoring blood pressure and oxygen levels.

Cardiologist Alvaro Marco del Castillo who is collaborating with the research team on the design of the brush told The Times: “With a little information about their heart rate, pressure and some biological samples from saliva, it is possible to execute some minor corrections that should help the patient to be as healthy as possible.”

He added: “I am cooperating with a top-notch tech company which is trying to keep this new device as secret as possible while the engineering and designing phases are completed.”

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in American, responsible for 610,000 deaths per year that's 1 in every 4 deaths, so a tool like this could save millions of lives.

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