A MEDICAL device invented in Maitland 50 years ago has been shipped all over the world to help improve oral health. But a lack of evidence-based research means it hasn't had much traction in Australia - yet.
Speech pathologist and University of Newcastle PhD candidate Hollie-Ann Shortland has been looking at the feasibility of using the Myo Munchee Australia device in aged care settings to improve oral health and treat swallowing disorders.
The University of Newcastle researcher partnered with The Junction's Myo Munchee, as well as Maroba aged care at Waratah, to conduct a clinical trial into use of the device.
While the research is not yet published, Ms Shortland said the device's feasibility in aged care settings was looking "promising".
The device - which looks like a mouth guard with tiny silicon bristles - aims to aid cleaner teeth and gums, appropriate positioning of the tongue, lip closure, and increased jaw strength and function.
"As you're chewing down on it, those little soft bristles are almost like a massage or a cleaning of the teeth and the gums," Ms Shortland said.
"As well as doing that, you're working the jaw, and you're working the muscles of mastication - the muscles of chewing."
The device has been used across age groups, but particularly in children in the US and Europe.
Ms Shortland's PhD project focused on whether the use of "The Munchee" in improving oral hygiene and assisting in the prevention of "aspiration pneumonia" - a potentially fatal condition arising from inhalation of food particles left in the mouth after eating.
The research offers the first systematic review of myofunctional devices and therapies globally, and Ms Shortland hopes the work will help inform "more concrete" evidence for speech pathologists considering prescribing the use of the device.
"I think this is the launching pad," she said.
Myo Munchee chief executive Mary Bourke said their collaboration had unearthed areas of application they had not yet considered and paved the way for "exciting new growth". It comes as the University of Newcastle invites other business and industry representatives to explore "new pathways to innovation" at an inaugural "Industry PhD Breakfast" event on Tuesday, June 28.
Dean of Graduate Research, Professor Kylie Shaw, said students were "ideally placed" to drive meaningful innovation outcomes for business and industries that have a problem, but no solutions. If this is you, Tuesday's event - at the Q Building from 8.30am to 10am - is part of the "HDR Student Festival". Register via Eventbrite.
