Design and Experiments Involving a Mechanism-Based Artificial Tongue Prosthesis

Abstract Oral cancer can result in the loss of tongue through total glossectomy, and patients have difficulty with speech, deglutition, and mastication. Current tongue prostheses lack the ability to move for mastication and deglutition and are mainly for cosmetic purposes. The goal of this research was to investigate and develop a self-contained prosthetic tongue that could aid in deglutition by moving bolus from the front of the mouth to the back. A review of existing designs and alternatives led to the development of a linkage system mounted in a silicone cast to move the bolus. The development of this new prosthetic tongue design entailed creating silicone molds, 3D printing linkage systems and jaws, and developing new circuits. The circuit used a TinyDuino microcontroller and MOSFET. A functional mandibular Hawley retainer was added to hold the tongue to increase ease of use. The final circuit used an EMG sensor to trigger actuation and a single servo motor with a gear train to actuate the tongue. The prosthetic tongue succeeded in moving bolus from the front of the mouth to the back when lying at a 5-degree angle and actuating between 1.8–2.31cm in height. The paper will describe the development process, challenges, and future work.