Roman Gr. Maev

An Update on Novel Non-Invasive Approaches for Periodontal Diagnosis

For decades there has been an ongoing search for clinically acceptable methods for the accurate, non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of periodontitis. There are several well-known inherent drawbacks with current clinical procedures. The purpose of this review is to summarize some of the newly emerging diagnostic approaches, namely, infrared spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and ultrasound. The history and attractive features of these new approaches are briefly illustrated, and the interesting and significant inventions related to dental applications are discussed. The particularly attractive aspects for the dental community are that some of these methods are totally non-invasive, do not impose any discomforts to the patients during the procedure, and require no tissue to be extracted. For instance, multiple inflammatory indices withdrawn from near infrared spectra have the potential to identify early signs of inflammation leading to tissue breakdown. Morphologically, some other non-invasive imaging modalities, such as OCT and ultrasound, could be employed to accurately measure probing depths and assess the status of periodontal attachment, the front-line of disease progression. Given that these methods reflect a completely different assessment of periodontal inflammation, if clinically validated, these methods could either replace traditional clinical examinations for the diagnosis of periodontitis or at least serve as attractive complementary diagnostic tools. However, the potential of these techniques should be interpreted more cautiously given the multifactorial character of periodontal disease. In addition to these novel tools in the field of periodontal inflammatory diseases, other alternative modalities like microbiologic and genetic approaches are only briefly mentioned in this review because they have been thoroughly discussed in other comprehensive reviews.

Inline SAW RFID tag using time position and phase encoding

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal by short metal reflectors. The standard encryption method involves time position encoding that uses time delays of response signals. However, the data capacity of a SAW RFID tag can be significantly enhanced by extracting additional phase information from the tag responses. In this work, we have designed, using FEM-BEM simulations, and fabricated, on 128deg-LiNbO3, inline 2.44-GHz SAW RFID tag samples that combine time position and phase encoding: each reflective echo has four possible time positions and, additionally, a phase of 0deg, -90deg, -180deg, or -270deg. This corresponds to 16 different states, i.e., 4 bits of data, per code reflector. In addition to the enhanced data capacity, our samples also exhibit a low loss level of -38 dB for code reflections.

New data on histology and physico-mechanical properties of human tooth tissue obtained with acoustic microscopy

Quantitative evaluation of human tooth structural elements, revealed in acoustic images, has been carried out. It has been shown that tissue elements with different acoustic impedances differed in acoustic images by intensity of grey color, and also feature with different longitudinal sound velocities (C(L)). In the layer of mantle dentin, C(L) is 7% to 8% lower than in bulk dentin, and in the layer of dentin around the pulp chamber, C(L) is 15% lower. In carious enamel and dentin, C(L) decreases up to 7% to 17%. In pathologic teeth, dentin areas with higher density can be revealed; they feature higher C(L); in transparent dentin C(L) can be 15% to 20% higher than in bulk dentin. Results of the present study show that acoustic images reflect internal biomechanical properties of tooth tissue microstructure that can be evaluated quantitatively by means of longitudinal sound velocity determination.

Pulse-echo NDT of adhesively bonded joints in automotive assemblies.

A new method for the detection of void-disbonds at the interfaces of adhesively bonded joins is considered. Based on a simple plane wave model, the output waveform is presented as a sum of two responses associated with the reflection of the ultrasonic wave at the first metal-adhesive interface and the second metal-adhesive interface, respectively. The strong response produced by the wave reverberating in the first metal sheet is eliminated through comparison between the pulse-echo signal measured at the area under the test and reference waveform recorded for the bare first metal sheet outside of the joint. The developed decomposition algorithm has been applied to the study of steel and aluminum samples having various adhesive layer thicknesses in a range of 0.1-1mm.

The use of acoustic microscopy to study the mechanical properties of glass-ionomer cement

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between microstructure, acoustic and mechanical properties of hardened dental cement samples, prepared with different powder/water ratios. METHODS Glass-ionomer dental cement samples, prepared with a standard amount of cement powder and different amounts of water have been examined after being hardened. Surface microstructure and ultrasound, longitudinal and shear velocities were obtained with a scanning acoustic microscope. Conditional effective elastic modulus and Poissons ratio have been calculated using longitudinal and shear sound velocity values. Then on the same samples elastic modulus and microhardness have been determined by standard tests. Additional samples have been used to determine compressive strength. RESULTS Density; conditionally instantaneous elastic modulus; high-elasticity modulus and compression strength of the samples decrease when large amounts of water were used for their preparation. At the same time porosity and microhardness of the cement matrix increase. Acoustic parameters and parameters of elasticity, calculated on the basis of sound velocity, demonstrated changes, similar to those obtained in standard mechanical tests. SIGNIFICANCE The established relation between microstructure, acoustic and mechanical parameters demonstrated a high capacity of acoustic microscopy application for non-destructive characterization of dental materials. A particular advantage of the acoustic microscopy is the opportunity to evaluate microstructure and mechanical properties on the same sample.

P0-14 Inline SAW RFID Tag Using Time Position and Phase Encoding

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal by short metal reflectors. The standard encryption method involves time position encoding that uses time delays of response signals. However, the data capacity of a SAW RFID tag can be significantly enhanced by extracting additional phase information from the tag responses. In this work, we have designed, using FEM-BEM simulations, and fabricated, on 128deg-LiNbO3, inline 2.44-GHz SAW RFID tag samples that combine time position and phase encoding. Each reflective echo has 4 possible time positions and a phase of 0deg, -90deg, -180deg, or -270deg. This corresponds to 16 different states, i.e., 4 bits of data, per code reflector. In addition to the enhanced data capacity, our samples also exhibit a low loss level of -38 dB for code reflections.

Acoustic Microscopy of Internal Structure of Resistance Spot Welds

Acoustic microscopy, although relatively new, has many advantages within the industrial quality control process. Its high degree of sensitivity, resolution, and reliability make it ideal for use in resistance spot weld analysis, aiding in visualization of small-scale nugget failures, as well as other defects, at various depths. Acoustic microscopy makes it possible to inspect fine detail of internal structures, providing reliable inspection and characterization of weld joints. Besides weld size measurements, this technique is able to provide high resolution, three-dimensional images of the weld nuggets, revealing possible imperfections within its microstructure that may affect joint quality. The high degree of accuracy allows one to consider the results of acoustic microscopy an authoritative measure of weld size, particularly in the case of high strength steels, dual phase steel, USIBOR steel, etc. Indeed, this technique is effective even when both conventional ultrasound and hammer and chisel methods are not. In this paper, the potential of scanning acoustic microscopy as a means to provide qualitative and quantitative information about the internal microstructure of the resistance spot welds is demonstrated. Thus, acoustic microscopy is shown to be a unique and effective laboratory instrument for the evaluation and calibration of weld quality.

Wide-aperture, line-focused ultrasonic material characterization system based on lateral scanning

We present a new wide-aperture, line-focused ultrasonic material characterization system. The foci of the transmitting and receiving transducers are located in the specimen-immersion liquid interface; and the output voltage V(x, t) of the system is recorded as a function of the lateral position of the receiving transducer. The two-dimensional spectrum of V(x, t) can be expressed as a product of the transfer function of the system and the reflectance function of the interface. In comparison with a system based on scanning in the z direction, the angular resolution of the proposed technique increases with decreasing angle of incidence. There are no geometrical restrictions on the length of the recorded spatial data and the angle of incidence in the case of lateral scanning. The temperature coefficient of the measurement error is low because of the constancy of the propagation distance of ultrasound in the immersion fluid during data acquisition.

Principles of local sound velocity and attenuation measurements using transmission acoustic microscope

Fundamentals of transmission acoustic microscopy as applied to measurements of sound velocities and attenuation in thin specimens and films are discussed. The method is based on measuring the output signal A as a function of a distance z between the radiating and the receiving lenses in the two-lens focusing system of the transmission microscope. It is proposed to measure the A(z) dependence twice: initially without a specimen, and then in the presence of it. When a specimen is absent, maximum of the A(z)-curve arises in the confocal position of the lenses. In the presence of an object, the main peak of the curve is shifted, and its magnitude diminishes. Measuring the changes makes it possible to determine local values of sound velocities and attenuation. For data interpretation a theory of formation of the output signal in the two-lens focusing system was developed. The relationship between the peak shift and the ratio of sound velocities in a specimen and a couplant contains a correction depending on beam angle aperture.

Acoustic imaging of thick biological tissue

Up to now, biomedical imaging with ultrasound for observing a cellular tissue structure has been limited to very thinly sliced tissue at very high ultrasonic frequencies, i.e., 1 GHz. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic study to use a 150 to 200 MHz frequency range for thickly sliced biological tissue. A mechanical scanning reflection acoustic microscope (SAM) was used for obtaining horizontal cross-sectional images (C-scans) showing cellular structures. In the study, sectioned specimens of human breast cancer and tissues from the small intestine were prepared and examined. Some accessories for biomedical application were integrated into our SAM (Sonix HS-1000 and Olympus UH-3), which operated in pulse-wave and tone-burst wave modes, respectively. We found that the frequency 100 to 200 MHz provides optimal balance between resolution and penetration depth for examining the thickly sliced specimens. The images obtained with the lens focused at different depths revealed cellular structures whose morphology was very similar to that seen in the thinly sectioned specimens with optical and scanning acoustic microscopy. The SAM operation in the pulse-echo mode permits the imaging of tissue structure at the surface, and it also opens up the potential for attenuation imaging representing reflection from the substrate behind the thick specimen. We present such images of breast cancer proving the methods applicability to overall tumor detection. SAM with a high-frequency tone-burst ultrasonic wave reveals details of tissue structure, and both methods may serve as additional diagnostic tools in a hospital environment.