Quantification of dental caries using a 3D X-ray device at the dentist's chair

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"Almost everyone will have had a dental X-ray. These help dentists make informed decisions about diagnoses and treatments. However, each X-ray is just a 2D shadow of a 3D shape so assessing the size and shape of feature such as cavities in teeth can be difficult. Large 3D imaging systems do exist today but they are expensive, only available at specialist centres and they give a relatively high radiation dose.Adaptix has a new method of obtaining 3D X-ray data. Adaptix have miniaturised the X-ray emitter meaning that many emitters can be arranged in flat panel array. Electronically firing X-rays from 45 different positions means that 3D information can be derived, in the same way that having 2 eyes in different positions gives us depth perception. Adaptix's device is small enough to be used at the dentist's chair, gives a low radiation dose and the 3D images give more information to the dentist than is obtained from current devices. This project will go further and develop software to analyse the 3D slices and _quantify_ the size of cavities. This will help dentists decide if a cavity needs to be filled or whether it can be safely left until next time and monitored to see if it will improve over time or get worse and need treating. This will make dentists more confident in their decisions and improve the quality of care that is provided. This is important as dental caries is one of the most prevalent diseases (42% of an adult population in the UK, Source: Murray et al. 2015, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpe.12677).Enabling Adaptix to bring this healthcare technology to the UK, will support the NHS by reducing the cost of high-quality dental care, as well as enabling our dentists to make earlier and more accurate diagnoses.Adaptix is a UK company, setting up a UK manufacturing site, creating jobs in the UK. Supporting Adaptix will enable its UK technology to be brought to market, which will benefit the UK, as well as dental care worldwide."