Biosensors and Sleep: The Future and Beyond

Abstract

Biosensors have revolutionized nanotechnological development and are therefore the future ubiquitous devices for disease diagnosis monitoring treatment and health management. They provide a non-invasive method of continuous monitoring of various physiological signals like temperature heart rate blood pressure respiration rate and oxygen saturation and transmits that information to the patient and the physician. Thus their role in at-home detection of cases with obstructive sleep apnea OSA is significant which can easily replace the gold standard yet complex in-lab polysomnography PSG. The oral health care providers can be of great value to the team of sleep specialists when it comes to early detection and intervention with correct therapy for such patients. All the parameters that are studied in PSG can now be easily analyzed with the help of biosensors. However most of the sensing systems available today are extra-oral in nature and have no relation in anyway to the dental aspect of detection of OSA. Thus there is a vast space that is left unexplored in the world of biosensors when it comes to oral appliances which can be put into a pivotal role in diagnosing the undetected sleep apneic patients at a very early stage. This review paper presents an overview of the biosensors exploring their types functional modes and applications with particular emphasis on their potential application in diagnosing OSA.