I-Corps: Development of a Periodontal Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Imaging Device

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力可能会导致牙周病的准确和早期检测，以减少牙科护理的痛苦和成本。牙周病是常见的，通常会导致牙痛，牙齿脱落，生活质量下降，甚至全身性影响，如心血管疾病。目前的牙周评估方法使用手动探测和目视检查。这些方法通常不准确，重复性差，而且耗时，有时很痛苦。虽然X射线成像捕获有关口腔内硬组织的详细信息，但错过了有关软组织的更详细信息。有一个基本的未满足的需要，非侵入性成像，以评估牙齿健康。该项目将改善牙周评估和诊断，治疗计划和治疗监测。它还可以使牙科检查减少患者的痛苦和更准确的牙医。这个I-Corps项目开发了一种新型的非侵入性牙周成像设备，为牙周炎诊断提供关键信息。双模态超声和光声成像可用作牙周评估护理标准的上级替代方案。这种方法将超声的分辨率与光学的对比度和光谱行为相结合。牙龈的光声成像可以详细描述整个牙周袋的轮廓，其变化性明显低于传统的探测。这种方式提供了一个角度，炎症的早期诊断是无法直接视觉临床评估。此外，超声成像可以量化牙龈厚度，这反过来又决定了最终的美容治疗结果。目前临床附着丧失是基于牙骨质-牙釉质连接（CEJ）位置进行目视测量的，只有在牙龈边缘已经因疾病而凹陷时才可见。相比之下，超声方法可以对包括CEJ和牙龈缘在内的解剖标志进行成像，以量化附着丧失。该项目的成功展示可能会导致牙龈炎早期牙龈疾病的准确诊断，从而降低晚期牙周炎和牙齿脱落的风险。该奖项反映了NSF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 I-Corps project may lead to an accurate and early detection of periodontal disease to reduce the pain and cost of dental care. Periodontal disease is common and often results in dental pain, tooth loss, reduced quality of life, and even systemic effects like cardiovascular disease. The current methods for periodontal evaluation use manual probing and visual inspection. These methods are often inaccurate and have poor reproducibility, as well as being time consuming and sometimes painful. While X-ray imaging captures detailed information about intra-oral hard tissues, more detailed information about soft tissue is missed. There is an essential unmet need for non-invasive imaging to assess dental health. This project will improve periodontal evaluation and diagnostics, treatment planning, and therapy monitoring. It may also make dental exams less painful for patients and more accurate for dentists.This I-Corps project develops a novel non-invasive periodontal imaging device that provides key information for periodontitis diagnosis. Dual modality ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging can be used as a superior alternative to the current standard of care for periodontal evaluation. This approach combines the resolution of ultrasound with the contrast and spectral behavior of optics. Photoacoustic imaging of the gingiva can detail the contours of the entire pocket with markedly less variability than conventional probing. This modality offers a perspective for early diagnosis of inflammation which is inaccessible by direct visual clinical assessment. In addition, ultrasound imaging can quantify gingival thickness which in turn, determines the final aesthetic treatment outcome. Current clinical attachment loss is visually measured based on cementoenamel junction (CEJ) location and it is only visible if gingival margin has already recessed due to disease. In contrast, the ultrasound approach can image anatomical landmarks including CEJ and gingival margin to quantify attachment loss. The successful demonstration of the proposed project may lead to an accurate diagnosis of gum disease in the early stage of gingivitis that reduces the risk of advanced periodontitis and tooth loss.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.