Dental care is essential but can be unpleasant. Recent data from the UK suggested that only 56% of adults are visiting their dentist as much as they should, although up to 84% of adults have at least one filling. With this low rate of engagement, but a high rate of issues requiring treatment, all dentists must be able to reliably detect any new dental issues arising in their patients.

Previous detection methods fall into two main categories. One is a simple, affordable, readily available method with limited scope, such as standard dental probes.

The other includes more expensive methods that require complex equipment, such as x-rays or laser sources, which provide more reliable detection but also higher risks to the staff and patients.

Researchers at Oxford have developed a dental probe that provides detailed and reliable data while being cost-effective and simple to use. The probe includes a sensor that is thermal-based and applies a short heat pulse. Different dental regions with different heat transfer characteristics will respond differently to this pulse.

Therefore, by measuring the response that returns to the sensor during the heat pulse, many aspects of the dental region can be measured. The sensor and associated connections can be incorporated onto the distal end of a conventional detail tool, such as an explorer probe.

This innovative probe and method are:

• Inexpensive
• Safe
• Compact
• Reliable
• Non-Invasive

The detail that can be detected using this method is high enough to outstrip some of the previously used methods. For example, this method can detect some dental problems before they become visible to x-rays, so it can be used in regions where x-rays would have been blocked by opaque matter.

Commercialisation

The team is looking for a partner to join for the next steps of development and clinical qualification.