Visualisation of tooth surface by electrical capacitance tomography

Abstract

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been widely used for industrial applications, but it is rarely used in the medical field. Considering its advantages of being non-radioactive and its fast speed, ECT has the potential for medical applications by generating real-time images. This paper introduces a new method of using ECT for visualising the tooth surface as a potential online imaging technique for endodontic therapy. A two-planar ECT sensor is designed for this purpose. With two electrode arrays, both cross-sectional and longitudinal images are obtained, providing 2.5 D information. Simulation was performed using COMSOL 3.5, and 3D models were generated. A single premolar was tested using an impedance analyser based ECT system to collect capacitance data from the fabricated two-planar sensors, and images were reconstructed using linear back-projection (LBP) and Landweber iteration algorithms. The initial results show that the ECT system with a two-planar ECT sensor can be used to visualise a single tooth surface, confirming the feasibility of the method.