SBIR-STTR Award

Development of Ultrasonic Apparatus for Dental Diagnosis
Award last edited on: 8/30/04

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
NIH : NIDCR
Total Award Amount
$849,995
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
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Principal Investigator
Xiaoqing Sun

Company Information

AAC International

60 Mechanic Street
Lebanon, NH 03766
   (603) 448-6177
   xqsun@aac-international.net
   N/A
Location: Single
Congr. District: 02
County: Grafton

Phase I

Contract Number: 1R43DE014270-01
Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
Phase I year
2001
Phase I Amount
$100,000
Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has been proposed (Phases 1 and 2) for Dental applications in determining tooth pathologies such as demineralization, caries, fractures, abscesses, and tooth wear. The equipment adopts piezoelectric and optic hybrid transduction system for interrogation on teeth. Ultrasonic responses of the tooth structure will then be analyzed by a pattern recognition expert system (artificial intelligence) to determine the diagnosis of the tooth inspected. The proposed research will eventually help to reduce the use of harmful X-ray radiation in Dental clinic and also contribute to artificial intelligence based diagnosis. In the Phase 1 research, tooth specimens will be collected from local Dental clinics; demonstration instrumentation will be constructed; ultrasonic testing will be conducted on the tooth specimens in vitro; and finally, the test data will be analyzed to show the potential for Dental pathology identification. The feasibility of the proposed research concept will be demonstrated, if: 1) meaningful ultrasonic tests can be conducted using the simple piezo-/opto-ultrasonic system on the tooth specimens collected; 2) various Dental pathologies in the tooth specimens may be characterized by using wave pattern of the ultrasonic responses; and 3) by identifying particular features of an ultrasonic wave pattern, the actual tooth pathology may be recognized

Phase II

Contract Number: 2R44DE014270-02
Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
Phase II year
2003
(last award dollars: 2004)
Phase II Amount
$749,995

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has been proposed for Dental applications in determining tooth pathologies such as demineralization/caries, hidden fractures, and formation of abscesses. The equipment adopts a piezoelectric and laser optic hybrid transduction system for interrogation of teeth. Ultrasonic responses of the tooth structure will be analyzed by a pattern recognition expert system (artificial intelligence) to determine the diagnosis of the tooth inspected. The proposed research will eventually help to reduce the use of harmful X-ray radiation in Dental clinics and contribute to artificial intelligence based diagnosis. The proposed concept has been successfully demonstrated in the previous Phase I study. In this Phase II study, instrumentation for clinical data collection using a combination of conventional piezoelectric and new laser-based ultrasonic technologies will be developed and optimized; an artificial intelligence based diagnostic function will be developed using clinical data and implemented using embedded computing; numerical simulations will be used to enhance diagnostic function development; and finally, initial clinical trials will be conducted to demonstrate the performance of the prototype equipment. The ultrasonic apparatus for Dental diagnosis outlined in this application is a first application of AI-based NDE in Dentistry. The research concept may also extend to periodontal and craniofacial applications.

Thesaurus Terms:
artificial intelligence, biomedical equipment development, dental disorder diagnosis, dental structure, diagnosis design /evaluation, ultrasound imaging /scanning clinical trial, dentistry, tooth, tooth surface clinical research, human subject, patient oriented research