3D Ultrasound Technology in Dentistry

A promising technology that has been used in the medical community for some time with considerable success and has the potential to overcome the drawbacks of both of the abovementioned imaging modalities is called ultrasound technology. This option can acquire data on both hard and soft tissue without emitting any radiation or requiring the dentist to prepare anything beforehand. According to an overview by Demirturk and Angelopoulos, "Ultrasonography is a noninvasive, nonionizing, inexpensive, and painless imaging tool proven to be a valuable diagnostic tool in soft tissue assessment that also shows promise for hard tissue evaluation in dentistry. Ultrasonography has been investigated for its capability to identify carious lesions, tooth fractures or cracks, periodontal bony defects, maxillofacial fractures, and more."¹

While ultrasound scanning traditionally exhibited a low-resolution image that would not qualify or be deemed useful for restorative dentistry, recently there have been tremendous strides made in 3D ultrasound technology that have yielded a significantly better resolution and scan quality. I experienced the advancements in 3D ultrasonography when it was offered during my wife's pregnancy with my son. The quality of the 3D image was remarkably detailed and realistic. The images can even be 3D printed.

For all these reasons, I believe that 3D ultrasonography will be used in routine dentistry and restorative dentistry in the future for dental scanning, caries detection, dental fractures, soft tissue and periapical lesions, maxillofacial fractures, gingival and muscle thickness, temporomandibular disorders, and implant dentistry.²

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