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High-Resolution Ultrasonic Imaging of Dento-Periodontal Tissues Using a Multi-Element Phased Array System

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Abstract

Intraoral ultrasonography uses high-frequency mechanical waves to study dento-periodontium. Besides the advantages of portability and cost-effectiveness, ultrasound technique has no ionizing radiation. Previous studies employed a single transducer or an array of transducer elements, and focused on enamel thickness and distance measurement. This study used a phased array system with a 128-element array transducer to image dento-periodontal tissues. We studied two porcine lower incisors from a 6-month-old piglet using 20-MHz ultrasound. The high-resolution ultrasonographs clearly showed the cross-sectional morphological images of the hard and soft tissues. The investigation used an integration of waveform analysis, travel-time calculation, and wavefield simulation to reveal the nature of the ultrasound data, which makes the study novel. With the assistance of time-distance radio-frequency records, we robustly justified the enamel-dentin interface, dentin-pulp interface, and the cemento-enamel junction. The alveolar crest level, the location of cemento-enamel junction, and the thickness of alveolar crest were measured from the images and compared favorably with those from the cone beam computed tomography with less than 10% difference. This preliminary and fundamental study has reinforced the conclusions from previous studies, that ultrasonography has great potential to become a non-invasive diagnostic imaging tool for quantitative assessment of periodontal structures and better delivery of oral care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Kim-Cuong T. Nguyen, Neelambar R. Kaipatur & Paul W. Major

  2. Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Kim-Cuong T. Nguyen & Lawrence H. Le

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Lawrence H. Le & Edmond H. Lou

  4. Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Rui Zheng & Edmond H. Lou

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  1. Kim-Cuong T. Nguyen
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  2. Lawrence H. Le
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  4. Rui Zheng
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  5. Edmond H. Lou
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Correspondence to Lawrence H. Le.

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Associate Editor Agata A. Exner oversaw the review of this article.

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Nguyen, KC.T., Le, L.H., Kaipatur, N.R. et al. High-Resolution Ultrasonic Imaging of Dento-Periodontal Tissues Using a Multi-Element Phased Array System. Ann Biomed Eng 44, 2874–2886 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1634-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1634-2

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