Moving teeth is a force-activated process, but force must be adjusted very precisely to prevent pain or necrosis of soft tissues such as the gum or the periodontal ligament. Even during the restraining phase at the end of treatment, the force should be enough to prevent teeth from returning. Currently, orthodontic devices are designed under a standardized protocol that does not account for individual patients or the materials used in the devices. Not all patients require the same force during orthodontic treatment; therefore, not all devices should be made from the same material.

One of our recent experiments centers on a sensor capable of measuring the force an orthodontic device applies to 3D printed dental models. The sensor was designed using widely available, easy-to-find components, with open-source software based on Arduino and Python to make this technology accessible. An even better feature is the Bluetooth interface that can send data to a smartphone if needed.

The Ph.D. researcher José Ignacio Delgado Castaño, under the supervision of Dr. Juan Pedro Fernandez Blázquez, developed this device under an industrial collaboration between the company Secret Aligner S.L. and IMDEA Materials, in which BCD Group also participates.

The primary goal of this collaboration is to develop new materials for invisible plastic orthodontics, using widely available resources to customize the physical properties of the material for each individual treatment.