The present invention relates to an IoT based apparatus and method for measurement of human bite force.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For orthodontists and oral physiologists, the measurement of a patient’s masticatory force is of key interest during the rehabilitation phase in jaw surgeries. The treatment administered to these patients are directly dependent on their chewing efficiency. This aids in accurate diagnosis of dysfunction and analysis of the patient’s complete stomatognathic system. Also, maximum biting force (MBF) exhibited by a human bite provides a guideline for differentiating between a healthy and an unhealthy bite.
Various bite force measuring devices are available in the market. They employ strain-gauge transducers, piezoelectric transducers and pressure transducers to analyze the masticatory force. As per the device disclosed in KR20110067682A, it measures the bite force in real time using a strain gauge which upon continuous chewing generates desired signals and delivers force values. In the US 8,226,581 B2 patent, multiple biting edges of different teeth were considered to record the bite force value, which can be later transferred to a computer using a USB cable. The existing inventions expose a demand for capturing MBF accompanied with bilateral and unilateral chewing forces. It also highlights a need for further analysis and efficient storage of the recorded data by the orthodontists to administer effective treatment to patients, which was absent in prior technologies.
In the view of the forgoing discussion, it is clearly portrayed that there is a need to have an internet of things (IoT) based apparatus and method for measurement of human bite force. The apparatus facilitates accurate and convenient measurement of biting force. The remote access, high repeatability and accuracy provided by the apparatus makes it an efficient real time rehabilitation tool for orthodontists. The apparatus features a WIFI module for remote access of recorded data, an attractive app interface and integration with Cloud Platform for automatic storage of recorded data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure seeks to provide an internet of things (IoT) based apparatus and method for measurement of human bite force. The force sensors are employed in the bite force measuring apparatus for measuring the value of compression that has been applied. The real-time data is recorded and the readings can be conveniently viewed either on an application interface or on the display screen of the apparatus. The application interface gives a convenient way for the analysis of the readings. The apparatus is ergonomically designed and portable. This compact apparatus can measure multiple types of bite forces like unilateral, bilateral and incisal

In an embodiment, a bite force measuring apparatus, comprises a hand-held housing having a control interface operably connected to a microcontroller to operate the bite force measuring apparatus. The control interface comprises of at least one display screen and a plurality of buttons configured to measure a bite force exerted by the upper teeth and the lower teeth of a patient for a plurality of modes. The apparatus further comprises an arm assembly. It comprises one or more arms. Each arm of the one or more arms has a proximal cavity and a distal covering and at least one arm is a sensory arm and at least one arm is a non-sensory arm. The sensory arm comprises a bearing plate mounted on a force sensitive resistor sensor. The distal covering provides insulation to the bearing plate and the force sensitive resistor sensor measures the bite force exerted on the bearing plate. The non-sensory arm aids in the measurement of a bilateral bite force. The arm assembly further comprises a pivot pin that links the proximal cavities of the one or more arms to the hand-held housing to allow smooth movement of the one or more arms with respect to the pivot pin. The force sensitive resistor sensor is electrically connected to the microcontroller. Here, the microcontroller is configured to receive an input from the control interface, wherein the input comprises selection of at least one mode from the plurality of modes, receive a bite force data from the force sensitive resistor sensor, process the bite force data and display the bite force data on the display screen. Lastly, it determines connectivity to the internet and establish communication on basis of the determined connectivity either with a remote server using a Wi-fi module to transmit the bite force data to the remote server or with a mobile device using a Bluetooth module to transmit the bite force data to a mobile application. Here, the mobile application further processes the bite force data to obtain a result set.

In another embodiment, the hand-held housing encloses a rechargeable battery and wherein a charging port is provided at the base of the hand-held housing to connect the rechargeable battery to an electric power source for re-charging the rechargeable battery.

In another embodiment, the charging port is either a micro-USB port or a USB-A port.
In another embodiment, the microcontroller is further configured to display a battery level with respect to the charging of the rechargeable battery.

In another embodiment, the plurality of modes are unilateral bite force measurement, bilateral bite force measurement and an incisal bite force measurement and wherein at least one mode of the plurality of modes must be selected for the generation of the bite force data by the force sensitive resistor sensor.
In another embodiment, the distal covering is hemispherical in shape.
In another embodiment, the hand-held housing comprises an opening for accessing the electronic circuitry of the bite force measuring apparatus, wherein the opening of the hand-held housing is operably coupled to a sliding cover and is operable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the closed position is defined by the sliding cover engaging the opening and wherein the open position is defined by the opening being accessible through disengagement of the sliding cover.
In another embodiment, the bite force measuring apparatus is provided with a USB port, which when connected to an electric power source, supplies electric power directly to the microcontroller.

In another embodiment, the remote server is a cloud server.

In another embodiment, the microcontroller further comprises an analog to digital converter for conversion of the bite force data received from the force sensitive resistor sensor.
In an embodiment, an IoT-based method for measurement and analysis of a bite force of a patient, establishing communication between a remote server, a bite force measuring apparatus and a mobile device using Wi-fi or Bluetooth technology, authenticating a user to operate a mobile application on the mobile device and receiving a patient data from the user, processing the patient data by the mobile application, operating a bite force measuring apparatus to receive a bite force data and storing the bite force data on the mobile device and the remote server, processing and analysing the bite force data in relation to the patient data to obtain a result set by the mobile application and displaying the result set in a predefined format on the mobile application. Lastly, storing the result set on the mobile device and the remote server.
To further clarify advantages and features of the present disclosure, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which is illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1A illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional solid view of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 1B illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional perspective view of electronic circuitry of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 2 illustrates a cross sectional top view of the bite force measuring apparatus's seating depicting a direct charging port and a battery charging port, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 3 illustrates a cross sectional front view of the bite force measuring apparatus’s bottom part in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG 4A illustrates a perspective view of the slider assembly that covers the circuitry of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG 4B illustrates side view of the slider assembly of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG 4C illustrates top view of the slider assembly of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 5 illustrates exploded view of the middle arm of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 6A illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional view of the right inactive (having no sensor) arm of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 6B illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional view of the left inactive (having no sensor) arm of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 7A illustrates an isometric side view of the pin which attaches the arms to the main body of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 7B illustrates the bottom view of the pin depicting a central cavity for attaching the arms to the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 8 illustrates the position of the arms of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring unilateral right biting force of a person on its molars in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 9 illustrates the position of the arms of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring bilateral right biting force of a person on its molars in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 10 illustrates the side view of the middle arm of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring unilateral or bilateral biting force in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 11 illustrates the position of the middle arm of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring the biting force of a person on the incisors in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 12 illustrates a block diagram of an IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 13 illustrates a flow chart of an IoT-based method for measurement and analysis of a patient’s bite force in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 14 illustrates a flow chart of the method of processing of patient data in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 15 illustrates a flow chart of the method of operation of the mobile application in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 16 illustrates a flow chart of the method of operation of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 17 illustrates a graph depicting the variation in average MBF vs different biting locations in relation to the different age groups.

Figure 18 illustrates a graph depicting the variation in MBF of vegans in comparison with that of non-vegans.

Figure 19 illustrates a table depicting Mean and standard deviation of the maximum bite force readings obtained at different biting positions of dental arch.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the flow charts illustrate the method in terms of the most prominent steps involved to help to improve understanding of aspects of the present disclosure. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the invention and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.

Reference throughout this specification to “an aspect”, “another aspect” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components proceeded by "comprises...a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices or other sub-systems or other elements or other structures or other components or additional devices or additional sub-systems or additional elements or additional structures or additional components.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings, an illustrative embodiment of the bite force measuring apparatus is shown in Figure 1A. The apparatus includes three extended arms 11, 13, 14 with the lower body 3 held by hand. The three extended arms say left arm 11, central arm 13 (housing FSR sensor), right arm 14 (from apparatus perspective) are detachable and are attached to the apparatus top 2 with the help of a pin 10. The body of the apparatus 3 is installed with one display 4 and four switches 5, 6, 7 and 8. Display 4 shows the bite force readings in the real time to the user. Switch 6 functions as a power switch. Switch 8 functions as a selecting switch. Switch 5 and 7 are used to select between five modes provided in the apparatus named as unilateral left, unilateral right, bilateral left, bilateral right and incisal.

Figure 1B illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional perspective view of electronic circuitry of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
As shown in Figure 1B the body of bite force measuring apparatus 3 is mounted with a Central processing Unit (CPU) 22, a battery charger 21 and at least one battery rechargeable or non-rechargeable 20. The central arm 13 is mounted with a Force Sensitive resistor (FSR) sensor 19. The bite force value is transmitted to CPU 22 through electrical wires where it is converted to analog value and is calibrated for accurate reading of the bite force. Then the CPU 22 shows the calibrated value on the on-board display 4.

Figure 2 illustrates a cross sectional top view of the bite force measuring apparatus's seating depicting a direct charging port and a battery charging port in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The pin 10 has an extended cylindrical rod 58 which fits in the cavities 52, 54, 57 at one end of each extended arms and in the circular cavity 25 on top 2 of the device. The top profile of the pin 10 is designed such that it settles on the pin holder 1 internal wall 23 where its external wall 16 restricts the pin from moving around with the arms.

Figure 3 illustrates a cross sectional front view of the bite force measuring apparatus’s bottom part in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The bite force measuring apparatus can be powered by internally installed battery 20 or through direct dc power supply which can be provided by any standard 6-12 V adapter with a micro-USB cable. The cable can be directly attached into the micro-USB port 28 of the CPU 22 which is provided at the base of device body 3 shown in Figure 3. To charge the battery 20 a battery charger 21 is installed within the device which has a USB port 27 provided at the base of the device body 3.

FIG 4A illustrates a perspective view of the slider assembly of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG 4B illustrates side view of the slider assembly of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG 4C illustrates top view of the slider assembly of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The apparatus also includes a slider 9 having a non-linear profile which slides in and out of the device body 3 providing a closed space. The extended slider walls 33, 35, 36, 38 attach around the extended walls 26 of the device body 3.

Figure 5 illustrates exploded view of the middle arm of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The central arm 13 of the bite force measuring apparatus has a cavity 47 on its top surface 49 similar to the shape of the FSR sensor as shown in Figure 5. A hemispherical solid 42 say pressure distributor has a base plate 43 with area similar to the sensing area of the FSR sensor is installed on top of the sensor 19 and the assembly is closed with the cap 41 isolating the sensor from the external environment. The cap 41 contains a cavity 40 for the pressure distributor 42. The baseplate 43 ensures equal distribution of force on the FSR sensor sensing area 44 for better sensing capability while also acting as a stop gap for the pressure distributor 42 from springing out of the cavity 40. The arm 13 also contains a pathway 48 for the electrical wires connecting the FSR sensor to the CPU 22 through the cavity 24 present on top 2 of the device.
When taking the bite force readings, patients’ teeth press against the pressure distributor 42 of the arm 13 which allows the FSR sensor 19 to record the resistance value digitally through its sensing area 44.

Figure 6A illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional view of the right inactive (having no sensor) arm of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 6B illustrates an isometric 3-Dimensional view of the left inactive (having no sensor) arm of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Arm 11 and 14 are also provided with a hemispherical solid 12,15 to provide the same planar level as that of the extended central arm 13.

Figure 7A illustrates an isometric side view of the pin of the bite force measuring apparatus which attaches the arms to the main body in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 7B illustrates the bottom view of the pin depicting a central cavity for attaching the arms to the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The pin 10 locks the arms 11, 13, 14 with the device body by inserting a screw in the cavity 60 present in the cylindrical rod. The arm cavities 52, 54, 57 are wide enough to provide a smooth planar movement to the arms.

In typical applications, the bite force measuring apparatus is used by a dental professional to measure the bite force of the subject while manually positioning the extended arms on the molars or incisors as shown from Figure 8 to Figure 11.
Figure 8 illustrates the position of the arms of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring unilateral right biting force of a person on its molars in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 8 depicts the position of the arms 11, 13, 14 inside the patient's mouth for a unilateral right measurement. Similarly, unilateral left measurement can be recorded by adjusting arm 13 on patients’ left molars. This helps in determining the bite force of the patient when chewing from a particular side.

Figure 9 illustrates the position of the arms of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring bilateral right biting force of a person on its molars in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 9 depicts the relative position of the arms 11, 13, 14 inside the patient's mouth for a bilateral right reading as the central arm 13 housing FSR sensor 19 say active arm is placed on the right molars and arm 14 provides support on the left molars. Similarly, bilateral left bite force reading can be recorded by placing arm 13 on patients’ left molars while arm 11 provides support on right molars. This helps to record the bite force of the patient when they engage in chewing from both sides.

Figure 10 illustrates the side view of the middle arm of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring unilateral or bilateral biting force in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 11 illustrates the position of the middle arm of the bite force measuring apparatus during the procedure of measuring the biting force of a person on the incisors in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 11 depicts the relative position of the arm 13 when taking incisal bite force reading. Arm 13 is placed on patients’ incisors while arm 11 and 15 remains outside the mouth. When taking bite force measurements, medical professionals may decide the orientation and position of the extended arms.

Figure 12 illustrates a block diagram of an IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
A bite force measuring apparatus 100, comprises a hand-held housing 102 having a control interface 104 operably connected to a microcontroller 106 to operate the bite force measuring apparatus 100. The control interface 104 comprises of at least one display screen 108 and a plurality of buttons 110 configured to measure a bite force exerted by the upper teeth and the lower teeth of a patient for a plurality of modes. The apparatus 100 further comprises an arm assembly 112. It comprises one or more arms 114. Each arm of the one or more arms 114 has a proximal cavity and a distal covering and at least one arm is a sensory arm 116 and at least one arm is a non-sensory arm 118. The sensory arm 116 comprises a bearing plate 120 mounted on a force sensitive resistor sensor 122. The distal covering provides insulation to the bearing plate 120 and the force sensitive resistor 122 sensor measures the bite force exerted on the bearing plate 120. The non-sensory arm 118 aids in the measurement of a bilateral bite force. The arm assembly 112 further comprises a pivot pin 124 that links the proximal cavities of the one or more arms 114 to the hand-held housing 102 to allow smooth movement of the one or more arms 114 with respect to the pivot pin 124. The force sensitive resistor sensor 122 is electrically connected to the microcontroller 106. Here, the microcontroller 106 is configured to receive an input from the control interface 104, wherein the input comprises selection of at least one mode from the plurality of modes, receive a bite force data from the force sensitive resistor sensor 122, process the bite force data and display the bite force data on the display screen 108. Lastly, it determines connectivity to the internet and establish communication on basis of the determined connectivity either with a remote server 126 using a Wi-fi module 128 to transmit the bite force data to the remote server or with a mobile device 130 using a Bluetooth module 132 to transmit the bite force data to a mobile application 134. Here, the mobile application further processes the bite force data to obtain a result set.
In another embodiment, the hand-held housing encloses a rechargeable battery and wherein a charging port is provided at the base of the hand-held housing to connect the rechargeable battery to an electric power source for re-charging the rechargeable battery.

In another embodiment, the charging port is either a micro-USB port or a USB-A port.
In another embodiment, the microcontroller is further configured to display a battery level with respect to the charging of the rechargeable battery.

In another embodiment, the plurality of modes are unilateral bite force measurement, bilateral bite force measurement and an incisal bite force measurement and wherein at least one mode of the plurality of modes must be selected for the generation of the bite force data by the force sensitive resistor sensor.
In another embodiment, the distal covering is hemispherical in shape.
In another embodiment, the hand-held housing comprises an opening for accessing the electronic circuitry of the bite force measuring apparatus, wherein the opening of the hand-held housing is operably coupled to a sliding cover and is operable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the closed position is defined by the sliding cover engaging the opening and wherein the open position is defined by the opening being accessible through disengagement of the sliding cover.
In another embodiment, the bite force measuring apparatus is provided with a USB port, which when connected to an electric power source, supplies electric power directly to the microcontroller.

In another embodiment, the remote server is a cloud server.

In another embodiment, the microcontroller further comprises an analog to digital converter for conversion of the bite force data received from the force sensitive resistor sensor.

The apparatus can send the bite force reading captured by the bite force measuring apparatus to an online storage using Wi-Fi or to an offline storage using Bluetooth, wherein the offline storage is the storage on the electronic device of the user for use by the application interface.

Figure 13 illustrates a flow chart of an IoT-based method for measurement and analysis of a patient’s bite force in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
An IoT-based method 200 for measurement and analysis of a bite force of a patient, comprises at step 202 establishing communication between a remote server, a bite force measuring apparatus and a mobile device using Wi-fi or Bluetooth technology, at step 204 authenticating a user to operate a mobile application on the mobile device and receiving a patient data from the user, at step 206 processing the patient data by the mobile application, at step 208 operating a bite force measuring apparatus to receive a bite force data and storing the bite force data on the mobile device and the remote server, at step 210 processing and analysing the bite force data in relation to the patient data to obtain a result set by the mobile application and at step 212 displaying the result set in a predefined format on the mobile application. Lastly, at step 214 storing the result set on the mobile device and the remote server.

Figure 14 illustrates a flow chart of the method of processing of patient data in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
To display the bite force values using the bite force measuring apparatus, the user has to feed some basic information of the patient like name, age, email address, phone number etc. The patient then takes a bite on the sensing arm 13 of the device as shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. The bite on the sensing arm of the device results in the change of the resistance value of the FSR sensor 44. This value is taken by the microprocessor as analog input. The input is then converted into digital value and calibrated by equations and thus gives biting force value as output. The output is then sent to the app interface using one of the two modes of data transfer i.e., Wi-Fi and Bluetooth depending upon the internet connectivity of the user. If the user has an internet connection available then the data will be sent to the cloud server/ database with the use of WIFI. Cloud then sends these output values to the desired field in the App interface to be viewed by the patient and the dentist. By using the SAVE button available in the app interface, the values are stored in a Cloud Platform which is separate for every patient. If the user does not have an internet connection available then the data will be sent directly to the app interface using Bluetooth and the readings will then be stored in the offline database and later synced with the online database when the user has active internet. This reduces the human work and leads to automation of the whole process of taking the reading, storing it and accessing it. The patients and clinicians can access the real-time data any time they want either through App or through excel sheets.

Figure 15 illustrates a flow chart of the method of operation of the mobile application in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The application used in the present invention can be operated in the following manner. The first screen presents the user with the option to login using his username and password or using his login account. The unregistered users will need to first register themselves before logging in. After the successful sign in the user is provided with several options like adding a new patient, searching an enrolled patient’s record including his name, age, medical history, etc using his name, editing the record, saving new records, and the option to take readings. Then the user has to select the mode of data transfer i.e., Wi-Fi or Bluetooth for taking the real-time readings of biting force value for different modes by selecting the required button. On pressing the SAVE button available in the app interface, the readings get stored on to the Cloud Platform with different sheets for individual patients. If the selected mode of data transfer is Bluetooth, the readings will be stored in the offline database and then pushed on to the Cloud Platform when the user has an internet connection available. The app interface also provides an option for the user to generate graphs of the readings for different modes for a better understanding of the recovery of the patient.

Figure 16 illustrates a flow chart of the method of operation of the bite force measuring apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The bite force measuring apparatus can be operated in the following manner. First, the user switches on the apparatus, there will be a screen displayed for the user to select a mode for saving the Patient’s information via WI-FI or Bluetooth. After selecting the operating mode, the user will have to select the mode for which he wants to measure the force value i.e., Unilateral left or Unilateral right or Bilateral left or Bilateral right or Incisal. When the user has selected the reading mode then he will have to adjust the two non-sensing arms and one active arm according to the reading mode to record accurate resistive values. Then after this, the patient will apply bite force on the arm in which the FSR sensor is installed. A resistive value from the FSR sensor will be recorded and taken to the microcontroller, from there the analog resistive value will be converted to a digital value by ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). Now this calibrated value will be displayed on the display screen and will be uploaded to an online database or saved to an offline database according to the operating mode selected by the user. Biting force capacity is dependent upon various parameters such as age, sex, ethnicity, chewing habits and facial anatomy. To analyze the effect of these parameters on MBF (maximum biting force), biting force of 92 subjects were recorded with the IoT enabled bite force measuring apparatus. Subjects considered in this protocol were divided into various subgroups on the basis of age, sex, food preferences and chewing habits. The following result analysis signify the work outputs generated through the present invention.

Figure 17 illustrates a graph depicting the variation in average MBF vs different biting locations in relation to the different age groups.
The apparatus was used upon 92 individuals who were divided into two groups as 15-25 years and 26-45 years, having sixty-seven and twenty-five members in each group respectively. Average MBF for 26-45 years age group members were found to be 40.55%, 56.11%, 54.13%, 60.21% and 53.26% greater than the 15-25 years age group, for ULM, BLM, URM, BRM and incisors respectively.

Using the bite force measuring apparatus, a new classification on the basis of sex revealed that average MBF among males (56) was higher than females (36) by nearly 45.17% and 38.6% at molars and incisors respectively. The apparatus was used to identify the effect of preferential chewing side. Such as preferring either side of the dental arch (unilateral) or preferring both sides of the dental arch (bilateral). Unilateral chewers could prefer chewing via left molars or right molars and their MBF has been compared with bilateral chewers’ MBF values. It was found that the unilateral chewers exhibited greater MBF in comparison to the bilateral bite force chewers by nearly 43.3% and 23.31% at left and right molar biting positions respectively.

Figure 18 illustrates a graph depicting the variation in MBF of vegans in comparison with that of non-vegans.
The subjects that were grouped based upon food preferences as vegetarians (52) and non-vegetarians (50), MBF among vegetarians was found to be less than MBF among non-vegetarians.

Figure 19 illustrates a table depicting Mean and standard deviation of the maximum bite force readings obtained at different biting positions of dental arch.
Maximum variance in MBF was recorded for ULM and minimum for incisors, depicting that the least variant MBF dentition location was incisors while the most variant MBF was observed at ULM. Average MBF were 124.04 N, 108.45 N, 129.64 N, 106.46 N, and 48.44 N at URM, BRM, ULM, BLM, incisors respectively. The p-values found using chi squares were found to be less than 0.001, indicating statistical significance of the recorded observations.
MBF data was subjected to proprioception (perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body), hence using other similar methods and measuring devices, for the same subject, observations are subject to variations.
Mean Bite Force = x¯, can be formulated by taking average of bite force values using following formula:

Where, n = number of patients
Sx = sum of different bite force values
Standard deviation = SD can be calculated as:

Where, x = bite force value

Acknowledgments
The inventors are grateful to Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt of India for funding this project under Design Innovation Centre sub-theme Medical Devices & Restorative Technologies [Reference no.17-11/2015-PN-1].

The drawings and the forgoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts necessarily need to be performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whether explicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences in structure, dimension, and use of material, are possible. The scope of embodiments is at least as broad as given by the following claims.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any component(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or component of any or all the claims.

We Claim:

1. An IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus, comprising:
a hand-held housing (102) having a control interface (104) operably connected to a microcontroller (106) to operate the bite force measuring apparatus (100), wherein the control interface (104) comprises of at least one display screen (108) and a plurality of buttons (110) configured to measure a bite force exerted by the upper teeth and the lower teeth of a patient for a plurality of modes;
an arm assembly (112) comprising of:
one or more arms (114), wherein each arm of the one or more arms (114) has a proximal cavity and a distal covering, wherein at least one arm is a sensory arm (116), wherein at least one arm is a non-sensory arm (118), wherein the sensory arm (116) comprises a bearing plate (120) mounted on a force sensitive resistor sensor (122), wherein the distal covering provides insulation to the bearing plate (120) , wherein the force sensitive resistor sensor (122) measures the bite force exerted on the bearing plate (120); and wherein the non-sensory arm (118) aids in the measurement of a bilateral bite force; and
a pivot pin (124) that links the proximal cavities of the one or more arms (114) to the hand-held housing (102) to allow smooth movement of the one or more arms (114) with respect to the pivot pin (124),
wherein the force sensitive resistor sensor (122) is electrically connected to the microcontroller (106);
wherein the microcontroller (106) is configured to:
receive an input from the control interface (104), wherein the input comprises selection of at least one mode from the plurality of modes;
receive a bite force data from the force sensitive resistor sensor (122);
process the bite force data;
display the bite force data on the display screen (108);
determine connectivity to the internet; and
establish communication on basis of the determined connectivity either with a remote server (126) using a Wi-fi module (128) to transmit the bite force data to the remote server (126);
or with a mobile device (130) using a Bluetooth module (132) to transmit the bite force data to a mobile application (134), wherein the mobile application (134) further processes the bite force data to obtain a result set.

2. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hand-held housing (102) encloses a rechargeable battery and wherein a charging port is provided at the base of the hand-held housing (102) to connect the rechargeable battery to an electric power source for re-charging the rechargeable battery.

3. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the charging port is either a micro-USB port or a USB-A port.

4. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the microcontroller (106) is further configured to display a battery level with respect to the charging of the rechargeable battery.

5. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of modes are unilateral bite force measurement, bilateral bite force measurement and an incisal bite force measurement and wherein at least one mode of the plurality of modes must be selected for the generation of the bite force data by the force sensitive resistor sensor (122), and wherein the distal covering is hemispherical in shape.

6. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hand-held housing (102) comprises an opening for accessing the electronic circuitry of the bite force measuring apparatus (100), wherein the opening of the hand-held housing (102) is operably coupled to a sliding cover and is operable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the closed position is defined by the sliding cover engaging the opening and wherein the open position is defined by the opening being accessible through disengagement of the sliding cover.

7. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bite force measuring apparatus (100) is provided with a USB port, which when connected to an electric power source, supplies electric power directly to the microcontroller (106).

8. The IoT-based bite force measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remote server (126) is a cloud server, and wherein the microcontroller (106) further comprises an analog to digital converter for conversion of the bite force data received from the force sensitive resistor sensor (122).

9. An IoT-based method for measurement and analysis of a bite force of a patient, comprising:
i. establishing communication between a remote server (126), a bite force measuring apparatus (100) and a mobile device (130) using Wi-fi or Bluetooth technology, wherein the bite force measuring apparatus is as claimed in claim 1;
ii. authenticating a user to operate a mobile application (134) on the mobile device (130) and receiving a patient data from the user;
iii. processing the patient data by the mobile application (134);
iv. operating a bite force measuring apparatus to receive a bite force data and storing the bite force data on the mobile device (130) and the remote server (126);
v. processing and analysing the bite force data in relation to the patient data to obtain a result set by the mobile application (134);
vi. displaying the result set in a predefined format on the mobile application (134); and
vii. storing the result set on the mobile device (130) and the remote server (126).

10. The IoT-based method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processing of the patient data comprises addition of the patient data, modification of the patient data, deletion of the patient data and storing the modified patient data on the remote server.