Development of handheld scope with tactile perception feedback for oral palpation

Abstract

Our team has developed a novel pen-like hand held device for real time examination of oral mucosal abnormalities like pre-malignant dysplasia and early stage cancerous tumors. This device enables doctors to easily navigate and palpate the complete oral cavity region. This prevents the need for the patient to completely open their mouth and thus experience discomfort. The front end of the device consists of a disposable MEMS based miniaturized tactile sensor (f=3mm) and a CCD camera with integrated LED lighting. The unique selling point of our device is the ability to obtain tactile information that is currently lacking in conventional oral screening devices. Thus the malignancy of oral lesions can be differentiated based on their hardness/stiffness response that significantly varies between normal and cancerous tissues.