SBIR Phase I: Point-of-Care Periodontal Imaging

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve digital imaging in dentistry. The goal is to create an imaging device to assist dentists when they assess gingival health. This project uses ultrasound in contrast to the X-rays typically used in dental imaging. The project impact will be a decreased overall radiation dose to both patients and oral health professionals as well as high-resolution imaging details on the soft tissue (gums). Details on the gingiva is often difficult or impossible to obtain with X-ray imaging. The impact of commercialization will include improved patient satisfaction as well as faster and better treatment outcomes. Oral health professionals will be able to treat more patients per unit time. This ultrasound-based approach will also offer early detection of periodontitis to reduce the high cost of treatment associated with advanced periodontal disease.  This device will reduce the risk of advanced periodontitis and tooth loss and thus improve patient quality of life. Other broader impacts include new insights into miniaturizing imaging equipment and processing imaging data: These insights will improve acoustic imaging in areas well beyond the mouth. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project offers creative ideas to improve oral healthcare. The gold standard in dentistry is physical inspection and X-ray imaging. This project will take advances in ultrasound and integrate them into oral health. Ultrasound is ideally suited to image the gingiva where gum disease resides and leads to tooth loss. The first objective of the project will use creative strategies to miniaturize the size of the imaging equipment. This miniaturization is important in order to access all teeth in the mouth—conventional ultrasound imaging equipment can only access the incisors and canines. The second objective is the development of novel algorithms to automate image collection and image analysis. The software resulting from this project will document dental health and track it over time. The software will give clinicians detailed information about teeth and gums for diagnosis, prognosis, risk assessment, and treatment planning. The ultimate technical result will be an integrated device for acoustic imaging of the entire mouth that automatically processes the imaging data.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.