Posterior photoacoustic/ultrasound imaging of the periodontal pocket with a compact intraoral transducer

Lei Fu; Reza Khazaeinezhad; Ali Hariri; Baiyan Qi; Casey Chen; Jesse V Jokerst

doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2022.100408

Posterior photoacoustic/ultrasound imaging of the periodontal pocket with a compact intraoral transducer

Photoacoustics. 2022 Sep 26:28:100408. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2022.100408. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

Lei Fu¹, Reza Khazaeinezhad², Ali Hariri², Baiyan Qi³, Casey Chen⁴, Jesse V Jokerst^{1

2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
² StyloSonic LLC, Lake Forest, CA 92630, USA.
³ Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
⁴ Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, 925 West 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
⁵ Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Abstract

Periodontitis is a public issue and imaging periodontal pocket is important to evaluate periodontitis. Regular linear transducers have limitations in imaging the posterior teeth due to their geometry restrictions. Here we characterized a transducer that can image the posterior teeth including assessment of periodontal pockets via a combination of photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging. Unlike conventional transducer design, this device has a toothbrush-shaped form factor with a side-view transducer to image molars (total size: 1 ×1.9 cm). A laser diode was integrated as the light source to reduce the cost and size and facilitates clinical transition. The in vivo imaging of a molar of a periodontal patient demonstrated that the transducer could image in the posterior area of gum in vivo; the value determined by imaging was within 7 % of the value measured clinically.

Keywords: Clinical attachment loss; Optoacoustics; Oral health; Periodontitis; Photoacoustic imaging.

Abstract

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