Dental Materials Science, Division of Applied Oral Sciences and Community Dental Care, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China.
Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, PR China.
J Dent. 2024 Nov;150:105354. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2024.105354. Epub 2024 Sep 21.
Maintenance of oral muscle functions is important for survival and communication. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a self-health-management material has shown promise. Here we developed a functional and AI-enabled smartphone e-Oral APP that provided real-time feedback features to let humans collaborate with AI, targeting to improve oral biomechanical and speech functions of adults.
A total of 113 neurologically healthy Hong Kong citizens over 50 years old were recruited in this study from June to October 2022. A set of 12 exercises of the tongue, lips, and jaw were conducted with guidance provided in the self-developed e-Oral APP, in which visual-audio demonstrations and immediate feedback on facial movements by an open-source AI-pretrained 68-point Ensemble of Regression Tree (ERT) face landmark detector was given to the users. After 8-week exercises, assessments after 1-week and 4-week post-training were conducted. Primary outcomes were measured on oral functions, including occlusal force, masticatory efficiency, tongue strength, along with dry mouth condition, and oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL), while secondary outcomes were comprised of oral diadochokinesis (DDK) and swallowing ability. The usability of the APP was evaluated by a self-written questionnaire.
After exercising a set of 12 exercises on the tongue, lips, and jaw for 8 weeks, 70 out of 113 participants (average age of 67.70±4.93 y.o., 52 female and 18 male) had a significant improvement in the occlusal force (p < 0.001), while masticatory efficiency (p = 0.002), tongue pressure (p < 0.001) and endurance (p = 0.004) were also improved. 80.3 % of respondents rated the APP with an overall rating of 3 out of 5 points, and 68.6 % would recommend the APP to others.
AI-based APP can be an effective approach to help healthy adults improve their occlusal force, masticatory efficiency, tongue functions, and oral diadochokinesis after 8-week home oral exercises. Furthermore, these improvements can be sustained for at least four weeks.
This is the first AI-assisted APP developed for oral muscle training. Our findings demonstrated that a self-administrated human-AI collaboration APP can improve clinically oral muscle biomechanics and functions for healthy adults. AI technology in smartphone gadgets provides a cost-effective, convenient, and reliable means for oral muscles training for adults.
维持口腔肌肉功能对于生存和交流至关重要。利用人工智能（AI）作为自我健康管理材料已显示出前景。在这里，我们开发了一款具有功能性和 AI 功能的智能手机 e-Oral APP，它提供实时反馈功能，让人类与 AI 协作，旨在改善成年人的口腔生物力学和言语功能。
本研究共招募了 113 名年龄在 50 岁以上的神经健康的香港市民，他们于 2022 年 6 月至 10 月参加了这项研究。参与者在自我开发的 e-Oral APP 中进行了一组 12 项舌头、嘴唇和下巴的练习，该应用程序提供了视觉和听觉演示，并使用开源 AI 预训练的 68 点回归树（ERT）面部地标检测器即时反馈面部运动，为用户提供反馈。经过 8 周的练习后，在训练后 1 周和 4 周进行了评估。主要结局指标为口腔功能，包括咬合力度、咀嚼效率、舌力以及口干状况和口腔健康相关生活质量（OHQoL），次要结局指标为口腔交替运动（DDK）和吞咽能力。通过自编问卷评估了 APP 的可用性。
在 8 周内完成了一组针对舌头、嘴唇和下巴的 12 项练习后，113 名参与者中有 70 名（平均年龄 67.70±4.93 岁，52 名女性，18 名男性）的咬合力度显著提高（p<0.001），而咀嚼效率（p=0.002）、舌压（p<0.001）和耐力（p=0.004）也有所改善。80.3%的受访者对 APP 的总体评分为 3 分（满分 5 分），68.6%的受访者会向他人推荐该 APP。
基于 AI 的 APP 是一种有效的方法，可以帮助健康成年人在 8 周的家庭口腔锻炼后提高咬合力度、咀嚼效率、舌功能和口腔交替运动能力。此外，这些改善可以持续至少四周。
这是第一款为口腔肌肉训练开发的 AI 辅助 APP。我们的研究结果表明，自我管理的人机协作 APP 可以改善健康成年人的临床口腔肌肉生物力学和功能。智能手机小工具中的 AI 技术为成年人的口腔肌肉训练提供了一种具有成本效益、方便且可靠的手段。
