A flexible piezoelectric sensor for non-contact monitoring of respiratory and heart rates: accuracy and clinical feasibility under simulated dental treatment conditions.

OBJECTIVES

Vital signs are not routinely monitored in dental practice, potentially delaying the recognition of medical emergencies. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of a piezoelectric sensor (Taido Sensor, Sumitomo Riko Co., Ltd., Nagoya, Japan) for measuring respiratory rate (RR) and heart rate (HR). Resilience against vibrations from cutting instruments was also assessed.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Fifteen healthy participants were monitored on a dental chair fitted with the sensor. Respiratory inductive plethysmography and electrocardiography served as reference methods. Three protocols were executed: (1) controlled breathing at 6-28 breaths/min; (2) HR recovery following a 3-min Master's two-step exercise test; and (3) clinical vibration simulated using an ultrasonic scaler, air turbine, and micromotors. RR and HR were derived from 30-s and 10-s waveform segments, respectively. Agreement was assessed using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland-Altman analysis.

RESULTS

The CCC for RR during controlled breathing was 0.992, and that for HR post-exercise was 0.982. CCCs remained excellent for both RR (0.968-0.997) and HR (0.954-0.997) under various dental vibrations. Bland-Altman analysis revealed minimal fixed bias and clinically acceptable limits of agreement across all conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

The Taido Sensor demonstrates high concordance with reference methods for vital signs measurements in routine dental practice, maintaining accuracy despite mechanical interference from dental instruments.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Owing to its contactless design and ability to provide reliable data from short segments, the Taido Sensor could be a valuable tool for monitoring real-time vital signs during routine dental procedures, thereby enhancing patient safety.