JPS59174149A - Dental diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a dental diagnostic device for diagnosing teeth and jaw tissue.

Diseases of the teeth and posterior bone can be broadly categorized into periapical disease, which is a disease that occurs at the end of the tooth, alveolar hyperplasia, which is a chronic inflammation around the tooth, and cysts that occur inside the posterior bone or in the maxillary sinus. Ya II
It can be divided into ta and ta. In either case, the bone surrounding the tooth is destroyed, and the common method for diagnosing this disease is to take an X-ray photograph.

However, diagnosis using X-ray photographs has many problems, such as radiation exposure and the processing required to create the photographs.

Therefore, the present invention hammers or vibrates the teeth and the surrounding dizzy tissue, and transmits the vibration sound generated there to the head, the group Wakkanai, etc.
Alternatively, we plan to provide a new diagnostic device that can diagnose teeth and jaw tissue, which could only be diagnosed using X-ray photographs, by extracting the vibration sound using an external sensor and analyzing it using an electronic computer. According to the present invention, even teeth or periodontal tissues that appear to be free of disease on X-ray photographs,
It becomes possible to obtain more diagnostic information. That is,
A dental diagnostic device characterized by the present invention includes: a striking or vibrating device body that generates vibrating sound in the teeth or the oral tissues surrounding the teeth; a sensor that converts the vibrating sound into an analog signal;
An A-D converter that converts the analog signal amplified as necessary into a digital signal, an electronic computer that accepts the digital signal from the A-D converter and stores and analyzes the waveform, and an electronic computer that converts the information from the computer into a digital signal. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In Fig. 1, 1 shows the tooth and its surrounding oral tissues, generally indicated by the symbol T, in the direction of both axes of the tooth (■ direction in the figure) and in the direction perpendicular to both axes (direction H in the figure). This hammering device 1 is a small device that can hammer the tooth and the surrounding donkey tissue.This hammering device 1 is a small device that can hammer the entire area inside the tooth, and can be hammered manually or with a constant force. The material may be an automatic hammering method, etc., and the material is preferably made of metal or synthetic resin. 2 is a sensor that detects and collects the sound of hammering with the hammer 1 and converts it into an analog signal. Therefore, the Sentsu 2 is preferably a high-fidelity, wide-band microphone such as a condenser microphone. Here, instead of the hammering sound produced by the hammer 1, a vibration sound produced by a vibrating device may be input into the tooth or its periodontal tissue. Further, the sensor 2 shall be set in a single or plural number at all locations that can be standardized, such as in the low position, the head (external ear canal, etc.), the outside of the body, or inside the hammer. 3 is an amplifier, and 4 is an A-D converter with an A-D converter.

Reference numeral 4 functions as a member for converting the analog signal amplified by the amplifier 3 into a digital signal and inputting this to the electronic computer 5 as required.

The electronic computer 5 in the figure is a component in charge of waveform analysis, which stores waveforms and analyzes and diagnoses the waveforms using a micro processor.

The electronic computer 5 first stores the percussion waveform in a memory, and then calculates (1) the time from the moment of hammering until its amplitude reaches the maximum intensity level (ri8e
(iime), (2) the ratio of the maximum amplitude intensity to the magnitude of the hammering sound intensity (input impulse), and (3) the attenuation rate of the damped vibration waveform, etc. were measured and calculated, and these values were statistically determined. A comparison will be made between normal cases and pathologically abnormal cases.
On the other hand, in addition to statistical data, various diagnoses can be made for each subject by comparing the percussion sounds of each person's teeth. Reference numeral 6 denotes a diagnostic result display device body, and this display device body 6 functions as a member that displays various diagnostic information according to the analysis results of the vibration sound waveform obtained by calculation processing by the electronic computer 5. It is being

In this embodiment, if the waveform analysis method of the electronic computer 5 is performed using the three analysis items listed above, the vibration sound waveform due to percussion will be as shown in FIG. 2.

That is, when the sensor 2 is set in the hammer 1 and in the external ear canal of the subject, t in the figure is the time from the input impulse to the maximum amplitude, and the t in the same figure is the time from the input impulse to the maximum amplitude, and the time in the same figure is i at the maximum amplitude intensity.
is the intensity of the input impulse of the hammering sound, and a in the figure is the enveloping line of the damped vibration waveform when the vibration shifts to damped vibration,
These include various diagnostic information existing in the tooth or its periodontal tissue. The meaning of the analysis of this vibration waveform is first determined by the magnitude of the time t, which determines the properties of the periodontal ligament (a soft tissue membrane between the tooth and the posterior bone, which is an important diagnostic element in dentistry), that is, the elastic state. or in a relaxed state, and then 1 for the maximum amplitude strength of the
The ratio of the input impulse intensities changes depending on the absorptive state of the periodontal tissue and the presence or absence of acoustic discontinuities in the propagation medium (i.e., the presence or absence of fractures, cystic disease in the jaw, etc.); Next, depending on the attenuation state of the enveloping line in a, abnormal findings in the skull, which is a resonator when a tooth is hammered, can be detected, such as apical inflammation caused by disease at the root end of the tooth, or disease caused by disease in the maxillary sinus. Bone diseases such as cysts and fractures caused by jaw moxibustion cause rapid attenuation of propagated sound, and the presence of absorbing objects can be predicted.

As is clear from the above explanation, in this example, the normal percussion waveform and the pathological percussion waveform are statistically investigated and stored in advance for each tooth. On the other hand, by percussing each patient's teeth and periodontal tissues, it is also possible to diagnose each patient's individual teeth, and by performing the percussions over a period of time, the effectiveness of treatment can be determined. It also makes it possible to make judgments. Furthermore, depending on the direction of hammering, percussion can be very effective in treating apical inflammation, fractures, etc. in both axial directions, and in detecting alveolar preparation and determining its progress in the direction perpendicular to both axes. .

The present invention is as described above, and is not limited to the embodiments. Various modifications can be made without departing from the structure set forth in the claims. Diagnosis by spectral analysis of percussion waveforms using Fourier transform, autocorrelation functions, cross-correlation functions, etc. can also provide exactly the same or better analytical effect.

Moreover, since electronic computers are becoming smaller and more sophisticated year by year, and can be manufactured at low cost, this diagnostic device is easy to implement in terms of cost. This is an extremely innovative dental diagnostic device, as it enables processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an analysis diagram of the waveform of a percussion sound. In the figure, 1 is a vibrating device (hammer), 2 is a sensor, 3 is an amplifier, 4 is an A-D converter, 5 is an electronic computer, 6
is a display device body. Patent applicant Hidehiko Yamada 71゛1 ozu

Claims (1)

[Claims] A striking or vibrating device body that generates vibration sound in the tooth or the raw tissue surrounding it; C/+j- that converts the vibration sound into an analog signal; and A that converts the amplified analog signal into a digital signal if necessary. - A dental device comprising a D converter, an electronic computer that receives digital signals from the A-D converter and stores and analyzes waveforms, and a display unit that displays information from the computer. Diagnostic equipment.