Emerging Technologies of Three-Dimensional Printing and Mobile Health in COVID-19 Immunity and Regenerative Dentistry.

Abstract

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlights the importance of developing point-of-care (POC) antibody tests for monitoring the COVID-19 immune response upon viral infection or following vaccination, which requires three key aspects to achieve optimal monitoring, including three-dimensional (3D)-printed POC devices, mobile health (mHealth), and noninvasive sampling. As a critical tissue engineering concept, additive manufacturing (AM, also known as 3D printing) enables accurate control over the dimensional and architectural features of the devices. mHealth refers to the use of portable digital devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and fitness and medical wearables, to support health, which facilitates contact tracing, and telehealth consultations during the pandemic. Compared with invasive biosample (blood), saliva is of great importance in the spread and surveillance of COVID-19 as a noninvasive diagnostic method for virus detection and immune status monitoring. However, investigations into 3D-printed POC antibody test and mHealth using noninvasive saliva are relatively limited. Further exploration of 3D-printed antibody POC tests and mHealth applications to monitor antibody production for either disease onset or immune response following vaccination is warranted. This review briefly describes the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus and immune response after infection and vaccination, then discusses current widely used binding antibody tests using blood samples and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays on two-dimensional microplates before focusing upon emerging POC technological platforms, such as field-effect transistor biosensors, lateral flow assay, microfluidics, and AM for fabricating immunoassays, and the possibility of their combination with mHealth. This review proposes that noninvasive biofluid sampling combined with 3D POC antibody tests and mHealth technologies is a promising and novel approach for POC detection and surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 immune response. Furthermore, as key concepts in dentistry, the application of 3D printing and mHealth was also included to facilitate the appreciation of cutting edge techniques in regenerative dentistry. This review highlights the potential of 3D printing and mHealth in both COVID-19 immunity monitoring and regenerative dentistry.