This thesis aims to explore and, ultimately, develop a system capable of monitoring physiological signals to detect bruxism events. Bruxism is a disorder characterized by the habit of pressing and grinding the teeth. These events can either occur during the day (Awake Bruxism) or during the night (Sleep Bruxism). Studies suggest that 20% of the adult population suffer from Awake Bruxism, and 8-16% from Sleep Bruxism. The consequences of this disorder are several, ranging from tooth wear, dental fractures, or abfraction, resulting in headaches, or facial myalgia. This dissertation focuses on the Sleep Bruxism type since it’s harder to detect and treat. First, a study about the evolution of technology in healthcare is carried out, fundamentally about how it was introduced and how did it get to the point it is now. The topic of wearable devices is also explored, in the sense that it’s where the market is going and how these devices can transform healthcare. Then, the study converges on the devices developed especially for bruxism, namely which devices, and what type of techniques are used. Subsequently, the general concept for the system is elaborated, exploring several options both in terms of devices and physiological data to be parameterized. However, some restrictions exist for the construction of the system. For the construction of an intraoral system, the device has to be of small dimensions and with low energy consumption. With these constraints, the system has implemented an Inertial Measurement Unit to estimate the orientation of the patient’s sleeping position, and force sensors to measure the force exerted between the teeth. For compactness, a Systemon-Chip is used, since it includes an ARM Cortex M4 processor, several peripherals, and an RF transceiver in one package. The system is not only responsible for the data acquisition, but also the data transmission. This is accomplished by using Bluetooth Low Energy, which is one of the most common protocols for low-power devices. Customized service is developed for this purpose, consisting of three different characteristics: the force characteristic, the accelerometer characteristic, and the gyroscope characteristic. The reason is for maximizing efficiency. The last step was to develop the prototype, testing its functionalities and try to project next iterations of the prototype
