Abstract:

Leading oral-care manufacturers are envisioning a world where daily oral health routine can be used to educate consumers to take care of their health comprehensively. State of the art research and ongoing European projects are striving towards extracting health knowledge from daily oral routine and using this knowledge for optimizing care and for leading a longer and healthier life. In this context, the “Patient centric solution for smart and sustainable healthcare” (ACESO) project is aiming to exploit modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in order to build an integrated health and oral-care platform in which intelligent devices use data analytics to learn about users’ oral and general health and wellbeing. Our approach will enhance oral health education and will spur the ability of patients to play a more active role in managing their health. Thus, we will help supporting the current trend in sustainable care which aims at shifting care delivery from a patient-centred to a patient-centric approach.

The oral self-care devices to be integrated in ACESO are selected based on preliminary discussions with dentists and hygienists who have underlined the importance of correct oral hygiene in elderly and the rising incidence of hyposalivation not only among elderly but also among older adults due to medication, chemo- and radio-therapy, etc. Hyposalivation is causing serious medical, psychological, and social privations and distress especially among the aging population. Thus, in this work, we present methods of selecting, classifying and involving elderly in the ACESO project. We also present initial test results on stimulated salivary secretion obtained through the participation of 20 adults and elderly. We analyze the participants from the point of view of salivary status at rest as well as in function. The analysis shows a great variety of responses. Some participants may have low secretion at rest but the salivary glands recuperate in function. Some participants have low flow at rest, in function it increases three times but it is still insufficient. Some participants may have good secretion at rest but in function the glands cannot cope and the flow does not increase but decrease. Some showed a normal flow but a difficult increase.

ACESO’s ambitious goals are pursed by a multinational consortium involving both academic and industrial partners form Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Slovenia and Hungary. Several differences are known to exist among the targeted users in these countries. Consequently, cross-national cooperation within ACESO will be able to take into account differences in national backgrounds during the development of the platform and in training and educating the users.

Keywords:

Elderly education, oral health, oral hygiene, hyposalivation, smart toothbrush.