Ultrasonography in dentistry

Abstract

This paper reviews diagnostic applications of ultrasound to dentistry, or dental ultrasonography, beginning with pioneering work of the 1960s up through present lines of research. Clinical, in vivo applications that are of direct interest to dental practice are reviewed here, including measurements of enamel thickness and periodontal pocket depth. In vitro research that involves destructive tooth preparation or procedures, such as sound speed measurements or scanning acoustic microscopy, also are included. Although dental ultrasonography has been studied for over 40 years, most methods are not quite ready for routine clinical use, and there remains much opportunity for diagnostic ultrasonography to significantly impact the practice of dentistry.

Ultrasound in maxillofacial imaging: A review

“…The commercial use of US devices began in 1963 when "brightness mode" (B-mode) devices were constructed. [6] In 1955, Satomura and Nimura were credited for Doppler effect based visualization of blood circulation. What followed was the "Sonic Boom" of the 1970s, when the "gray scale" was introduced that lead to the introduction of US scanners that generated the real time images.…”

“…Hinders and co-workers (1998) developed the US periodontal probe at NASA Langley Research Center. [6] Culjat et al (2003) used pulsed US imaging to determine the enamel thickness. [9] Current research endeavors at expanding the usage of US in maxillofacial region, some of them directed in detection of caries, dental cracks and fractures, soft tissue lesions, periapical lesions, maxillofacial fractures, muscle thickness, and implant dentistry.…”

“…[11] The High-frequency US has a long Fresnal zone and a greater depth resolution, although the tissue absorption also increases. [13] US pulse comprises a collection of frequencies called the bandwidth (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Higher is the fundamental frequency, better is said to be the spatial resolution.…”

“…[3] B-mode produces different echogenicity and shows the texture and tissue borders as black and white images. [6] As US wave passes through tissues of different acoustic impedance, some are reflected back, and some penetrate deeper. The echo signals so received from many coplanar pulses generate an image.…”

Visibility of dental pulp spaces in dental ultrasound

“…However, after the initial papers by Kossoff and Sharpe 2 and Lees and Barber, 3,4 this thread of investigation seems to have been abandoned. 5 Currently, in clinical and investigative dentistry, ultrasound is used for the detection of approximal caries, assessment of the periodontal space, surface imaging of periodontal bony defects and measurement of enamel thickness, and in the differentiation of periapical lesions, determination of gingival thickness and monitoring of periapical healing after endodontic surgery. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Recently, extensive overviews of applications of ultrasound in dentistry were published by Ghorayeb et al 5 and Marotti et al 13 The purpose of this paper was to investigate the feasibility of dental ultrasound with conventional ultrasonic equipment and to assess the possibility of demonstration of dental tissue on ultrasound.…”