Tooth cleaning is important in maintaining tooth and periodontal health, which when compromised, leads to poor nutritional status as well as cardiovascular and pulmonary ailments. However, tooth cleaning is not feasible in the very elderly, and in many disabled individuals, because of a lack of dexterity in manually positioning a tooth brush within the confines of the oral cavity. The purpose of this proposal is to develop a flexible and low-weight strip that can generate ultrasound and to evaluate its use in tooth cleaning.
The scientific and technological impact of this proposal lies in the innovative techniques used to make inexpensive and flexible ultrasound generating strips accompanied by the use of coupling gels in order to enable tooth cleaning and preserve the health of bone supporting the teeth. This proposal will support characterization of an existing device and enable development of device design criteria (shape, etc) that will enable its use in ultrasonic tooth cleaning. The team is in the process of developing thinner strips that can generate the requisite ultrasonic intensities and frequencies, and developing schematics for the moderate power - high efficiency electronic switching devices for running the ultrasound. These solutions will allow the team to generate ultrasound inexpensively (within the costs of current brush-based electrical cleaning devices).
