Enabling Effortless Imaging of Dental Structures Utilizing Ultrasound
Abstract
Periodontal disease is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. Diagnosis of periodontaldisease varies from visual inspection to invasive probing of the gums. In this master thesisthe goal is to enable the use of ultrasound imaging to assist in diagnosis and classification of periodontal disease. Utilizing ultrasound could allow for a non-invasive, simple andp ainless imaging technique. Through dialog with dental and ultrasound experts the latest equipment and knowledge was sourced. As there has not been any widespread use ofultrasound in dental imaging, a novel sleeve system for in vivo imaging has been developedto further investigate the potential of ultrasound. Utilizing the sleeve resulted in improvedimage quality that could not be matched by modern post-processing algorithms. The dentalstructure can be clearly seen, but to further investigate the possibilities a clinical trial isrequired to acquire images of unhealthy periodontium. The main objective of this thesis isto advance the knowledge about ultrasound in dental imaging, and be as a stepping stonebetween the initial idea and the start of a research project at NTNU.