CHEWING gum can get people in sticky situations - but what if it could be used as a diagnostic tool?
A special type of gum developed by researchers at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany could become an oral health diagnostic tool thanks to its ability to detect inflammation caused by dental implants.
Researchers believe the gum could make the diagnosis of peri-implant disease much easier.
Lorenz Meinel and colleagues have developed a "biosensor" for detecting the disease, which produces a bitter taste to indicate a positive diagnosis.
The sensor is bound with another compound and embedded into the gum, which is tasteless in healthy patients.
If the disease is present, it produces specific enzymes that release the bitter-tasting compound from the biosensor.
"Anyone, anywhere, anytime diagnostics aim to allow increased access to medical diagnosis by removing the need for clinical testing," Dr Meinel said.
"These approaches are dependent on easy-to-identify and hard-to-misinterpret signals in the case of positive diagnosis."
Testing in a clinical setting has not yet been carried out, but researchers have developed an artificial tongue that can detect the compound.
