SBIR Phase I: Point-of-Care Periodontal Imaging

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改善牙科的数字成像。目标是创造一种成像设备来帮助牙医评估牙龈健康状况。这个项目使用超声波，而不是牙科成像中通常使用的x射线。该项目的影响将是减少对患者和口腔健康专业人员的总体辐射剂量，以及软组织（牙龈）的高分辨率成像细节。牙龈的细节通常很难或不可能通过x射线成像获得。商业化的影响将包括提高患者满意度以及更快更好的治疗结果。口腔卫生专业人员将能够在单位时间内治疗更多的患者。这种基于超声的方法也将提供牙周炎的早期检测，以降低与晚期牙周病相关的高治疗成本。 该装置将降低患晚期牙周炎和牙齿脱落的风险，从而提高患者的生活质量。其他更广泛的影响包括对成像设备小型化和成像数据处理的新见解：这些见解将改善口腔以外区域的声学成像。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目为改善口腔保健提供了创造性的想法。牙科的黄金标准是物理检查和x射线成像。该项目将利用超声技术的进步，将其融入口腔健康。超声非常适合对牙龈进行成像，因为牙龈疾病存在并导致牙齿脱落。该项目的第一个目标是使用创造性的策略来使成像设备的尺寸小型化。这种小型化对于检查口腔中的所有牙齿非常重要——传统的超声成像设备只能检查门齿和犬齿。第二个目标是开发新的算法来自动化图像采集和图像分析。这个项目产生的软件将记录牙齿健康状况，并随着时间的推移进行跟踪。该软件将为临床医生提供有关牙齿和牙龈的详细信息，用于诊断、预后、风险评估和治疗计划。最终的技术成果将是一个用于整个口腔声学成像的集成设备，该设备可以自动处理成像数据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.