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'Excuse me, my tooth is ringing'
Will this molar make moolah?

By Heather McLean

Published: Monday 17 June 2002

A false tooth that picks up digital signals and beams messages straight to the ear is going on show at the Science Museum this week.

The tooth implant contains a chip that picks up a signal from a mobile phone or similar device within a one metre range and uses bone resonance to send the message to the wearer's ear.

James Auger created the tooth along with Jimmy Loizeau as part of a future product competition run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts while at the Royal College of Art.

Auger, now a research associate at Media Lab Europe in Dublin, said: "This is almost a first step to telepathy. We're very interested in the bionic development of our species.

"This device means the wearer can receive information at any place, at any time as it is completely discreet."

When programmed with a PC, a dedicated receiver device can send anything to the tooth from MP3 tunes to covert instructions from M15.

The tooth only has a range of one metre because the signal has to be transmitted through the moisture inside the wearer's cheek, Auger said.

Although the tooth was created purely for experimental purposes, Auger said the tooth could be put into production now.

Neither of the inventors have a patents out on the digital denture.