Researchers at Iowa State University have laid the groundwork for technologyto take make your trip to the dentist’s office more pleasant. Electricalengineering professor William Lord used a model to study the feasibility ofusing ultrasound to find cavities in teeth.Lord’s background is in the nondestructive evaluation of airplanes usingultrasound. He says there is still a lot of work to be done to use thesystem in someone’s mouth.Lord says the use of ultrasound on teeth would be similar to using it to seean unborn child in a mother’s womb. He says the biggest problem is the smallsize of teeth and creating equipment that could do the job.Lord says research is ongoing to try and develope an ultrasound system forteeth.
