Dental Ultrasound Imaging Group

   Ultrasound has the potential to complement conventional radiography as an imaging technique in clinical dentistry due to its short wavelength in hard tissues and associated high resolution. Ultrasound has the ability to penetrate hard structures and can, in principle, detect hard tissue discontinuities or pathoses under existing radiopaque restorations, a task that is difficult for conventional radiography.  In addition, ultrasound is highly effective in detecting physical discontinuities such as fractures or cracks, even if such discontinuities are smaller than the acoustic wavelength. Therefore, ultrasonography may provide a significant benefit to patients by allowing early detection of dental pathology, especially cracks.  Additionally, ultrasonography lacks the hazards of ionizing radiation.
   We have recently demonstrated the ability to image the dentino-enamel junction (DEJ), to detect narrow cracks, and to penetrate various restorative materials with ultrasound (see references below); Improvements in transducer technology, coupling efficiency, and signal processing to accurately image features like fractures, caries, and pulp are currently under development.

Packaged Single-Element Ultrasound Transducer Pulse-Echo Scan of Human Tooth Piezoelectric Transducer Array

   Our research team is a collaboration between groups within the UCLA School of Dentistry1, the UCLA Department of Bioengineering2, the UC Santa Barbara Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering3, Sonatech, Inc.4, and Cyber Medical Imaging, Inc.5 

Investigators:

Elliott Brown, PhD (email)3
Martin Culjat, PhD (email)2                         
Warren Grundfest, MD (email)2
Ratnakar R. Neurgaonkar, PhD (email)4
Rahul Singh, PhD (email)3    
Shane White, BDentSc, PhD (email)1
Douglas Yoon, DDS (email)1,5

Project-Related Publications:

M. Culjat, R.S. Singh, D.C. Yoon, E.R. Brown, “Imaging of Human Tooth Enamel Using Ultrasound,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 22(4), 526-529, 2003.

M.O. Culjat, R.S. Singh, E.R. Brown, R.R. Neurgaonkar, D.C. Yoon, S.N. White, “Ultrasonic Crack Detection in a Simulated Human Tooth,” Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, 34(2), 80-85, 2005.

M.O. Culjat, R.S. Singh, S.N. White, R.R. Neurgaonkar, E.R. Brown, “Evaluation of Ga-In alloy as an Acoustic Couplant for High Impedance, High Frequency Applications,” Acoustics Research Letters Online, 6(3), 125-130, 2005.

R.S. Singh, M.O. Culjat, J.C. Cho, R.R. Neurgaonkar, D.C. Yoon, W.S. Grundfest, E.R. Brown, S.N. White, "Penetration of radiopaque dental restorative materials using a novel ultrasound imaging system," American Journal of Dentistry, In Press.

Theses and Dissertations:  

RS Singh, “Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of an Ultrasonic Crack Detection System for Human Teeth,” PhD Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2005.

MO Culjat, “Development of an Ultrasound Imaging System for the Detection of Subsurface Fractures and Caries in Human Teeth,” PhD Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2005.

Abstracts:

Culjat MO, Singh RS, Neurgaonkar RR, Brown ER, “High coupling piezo-materials for ultrasonic transducers; Integration of ultrasonics and microelectromechanical devices with low-power CMOS for volumetric acoustic imaging,” 2003 Ultrasonic Transducer Engineering Conference, University of Southern California, March 21, 2003.

Neurgaonkar R.R., Garcia J, Brown E, Singh R, Culjat M, “High coupling piezo-materials for transducer applications,” 2005 U.S. Navy Workshop on Acoustic Transduction and Devices, Penn State University, University Park, PA, May 2005.

Cho JC, Culjat MO, Singh RS, Brown ER, Neurgaonkar RR, Grundfest WS, Yoon DC, White SN, “Angular dependence of crack detection using radiography and ultrasound,” American Association for Dental Research 2006 Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, March 8-11 2006, Abstract #1779. (*Selected as a finalist for the 2006 American Association for Dental Research Student Research Group Caulk/Dentsply Competition).

Cho JC, Culjat MO, Singh RS, Brown ER, Neurgaonkar RR, Grundfest WS, Yoon DC, White SN, “Penetration of dental restorative materials by a novel dental ultrasound imaging system,” American Association of Endodontists 2006 Annual Session, Honolulu, HI, March 29-April 1 2006, Abstract #06-E-145-AAE.

Singh RS, Culjat MO, Neurgaonkar RR, White SN, Grundfest WS, Brown ER, “Single-element PLZT transducer for wide-bandwidth imaging of solid materials,” 2006 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, Vancouver, Canada, October 3-6, 2006, Abstract #1050.


Contact Marty Culjat for more information