Japanese dentist develops electronic tooth

Hisashi Kishigami, a Japanese dentist, has recently received U.S. and Japanese patents for a method of planting a microchip into a false tooth.

The one-chip microprocessor embedded in a plate denture can be detected using a radio transmitter-receiver, allowing its owner to be identified, according to a patent awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The denture can be easily and positively identified in dental offices or even in nursing facilities for the elderly.

"In facilities such as a senior citizens' home in which a number of elderly people are received, ...all the dentures are collected from their owners after each meal, and then the dentures are washed all together. In such case, it is [important] to identify all the dentures to give back to their correct owners without any mistake," the patent claim says.

Embedding an identifiable microchip in dentures will help solve such problems, said Kishigami in his patent application.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can be reached at www.uspto.gov/.