Development of Ultrasonic Appratus for Dental Diagnosis

描述：一种超声诊断仪已被提出应用于牙科，以确定牙齿病理，如脱矿/龋齿、隐匿性骨折和脓肿的形成。该设备采用压电式和激光光学混合传感系统对牙齿进行问诊。牙齿结构的超声响应将由模式识别专家系统(人工智能)进行分析，以确定被检查牙齿的诊断。这项拟议的研究最终将有助于减少牙科诊所中有害X射线辐射的使用，并有助于基于人工智能的诊断。拟议的概念已在先前的第一阶段研究中成功演示。在这项第二阶段研究中，将开发和优化结合使用传统压电和新型激光超声技术的临床数据收集仪器；将使用临床数据开发基于人工智能的诊断功能并使用嵌入式计算实施；将使用数值模拟来增强诊断功能开发；最后，将进行初步临床试验以展示原型设备的性能。本申请中概述的牙科超声诊断仪是基于人工智能的无损检测技术在牙科领域的首次应用。这项研究的概念也可能扩展到牙周和颅面应用。

DESCRIPTION: 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.