Piezoelectric transducers for oral force monitoring

A wide variety of instruments have been developed for oral force monitoring. Most of the instruments, however, have employed bite elements which were too thick for measurement of biting forces when the teeth are nearly in contact and probably stretched the stomatognathic muscular system beyond its maximum power of contraction. This paper reports on the use of piezoelectric transducers (quartz crystals, 1.5 mm thick) to monitor quantitatively biting forces in humans.