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New chip technology is so small that it can be mounted on a tooth to monitor saliva

Catwell

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Silicon Labs’ tooth sensor monitors a patient’s saliva. (Image Credit: Silicon Labs)

Making wearable devices smaller has become increasingly challenging, especially when it involves battery life. Silicon Labs developed a tiny xG27 chipset that consumes little energy, potentially paving the way for future medical tech wearables, including a tooth-mountable saliva monitor.

Silicon Labs’ xG27 SoC family consists of the MG27 and BG27 chips. Each one is built on the ARM Cortex M33 processor. Although the MG 27 is compatible with Zigbee and other protocols, the BG27 features Bluetooth. The xG27 SoCs measure 2 mm2 to 5 mm2, approximately the same width as a pencil tip lead. It may not be the world’s tiniest chip, but it reaches that point by fractions of a millimeter.

While this is impressive from a technological standpoint, the BG27 is being made into a tooth sensor, a useful health-monitoring product. Medical device maker Lura Health uses the chip with its salivary diagnostic sensor. Its sensor is so small that it can be attached to the tooth or on a smart retainer for saliva monitoring purposes. This would then allow dentists to make a diagnosis of over 1,000 medical conditions.

Although many futuristic health tech innovations don’t go very far due to the FDA regulatory process, Lura Health says its sensors already underwent clinical trials. It just needs to go through a successful FDA regulatory process before being made available within 12-18 months.  

Since the device can consume as little as -0.8 volts, it has potential applications for glucose monitoring, medical patches, and wearable EKGs. Conveniently, it transitions to “shelf mode”, effectively decreasing power consumption during transit and shelf storage. Features like these can pave the way for improved wearables in clinics and hospitals.

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