Novel dental floss could streamline stress detection

A novel dental floss could help detect stress levels in the saliva.

In a study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers developed a noninvasive dental floss for real-time salivary cortisol detection. They incorporated molecularly imprinted polymer structures embedded with a reduction-oxidation molecule, a graphene-based electrode substrate, as well as thread microfluidics into the novel dental floss to ensure high sensitivity.

The researchers detailed that capillary microfluidics allowed for the transportation of saliva into a flexible electrochemical sensor for the analysis of extremely low cortisol levels. The dental floss was found to provide results within 12 minutes and produce accurate measures of cortisol with consistent repeatability. Additionally, because the floss was cost effective and easy to use, it could enhance adherence to at-home stress testing. Validating the dental floss with human saliva samples, the researchers demonstrated high correlation against conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

The researchers underscored that the dental floss could simplify the monitoring of stress levels. The findings indicated the potential for additional applications using other salivary biomarkers to identify mental health issues, inflammation or metabolic diseases.

Read more: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

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