Design and implementation of a smart toothbrush for individuals with dementia

Dementia in general and Alzheimer Disease in particular are one of the most challenging health conditions in our century. Experiencing cognitive decline, resulting in relying on others for daily living activities and impairment in basic mental tasks are the main symptoms. There are yet no proven treatments to slow or prevent Alzheimer's Disease or dementia progression; thus, Alzheimer's patients eventually need full-time care. To help patients to stay at their own home longer and ease the caregiver burden, Smart Assistive Technology (SAT) products may be beneficial. One of the basic activities that Alzheimer's patients in particular need help with, are basic hygiene needs such as brushing their teeth. In this thesis, a smart toothbrush has been designed and implemented as a pilot study towards development of an SAT for basic hygiene functions of Alzheimer's patients. The design includes hardware and software. The hardware includes 9-Axis (gyro, accelerometer, compass) motion sensor, temperature sensor, individually addressable red, green, blue (RGB) light emitting diodes (LEDs), voice module and other electrical components, while the software includes real-time monitoring of several dependent and independent tasks using a parallel algorithm to assist the users. The real-time monitoring system of the designed prototype assists the users by visual and auditory means. It is anticipated the designed prototype will assist people with dementia, and hopefully prolong the time they can be cared for at home; it may also be used for oral hygiene education and instruction in general.