14 DAY TRIAL // Dentists may soon have a new tool at their disposal, that could be used to make trips to their offices easier and less painful. The new device is based heavily on space-age technologies.
The instrument is basically a tiny, high-resolution X-ray camera, which is capable of imaging what goes on inside teeth with a minimal amount of effort, and a minimum amount of discomfort to patients.
In charge of developing the new approach to conducting healthcare was a Swedish company called Nanospace. The design of the camera was created by the Scint-X company.
At this point in time, dentists use X-ray cameras to conduct investigations of the mouth cavity, and determine how teeth look like on the inside. However, these cameras are not too sensitive.
With the new approach, the images that are obtained are substantially more detailed than possible with similar instruments, and they also feature increased contrast.
At the very core of the instrument is a miniaturized device called a “structured scintillator,” which can convert X-rays into visible light.
“Our scintillator uses a specially structured silicon substrate and with this unique and patented manufacturing technique we can obtain substantially higher resolution than what is on the market today,” says Scint-X expert Per Wiklund.
One added advantage over existing technologies is that the X-ray unit which goes into the patient's mouth is a lot thinner and generally smaller, which means that the amount of discomfort the person feels is reduced.
The scintillator design that Scint-X proposed was handed over to Nanospace, which engineered the device with precision at its micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) facility.
“The investment in our special machine [to produce MEMS] was entirely driven by the demand for capacity and quality in our production for space projects,” explains the CEO of Nanospace, TOR-Arne Grönland.
“Later, a number of non-space companies and research groups, such as Scint-X, have taken advantage of the processes and the capacity we now have,” she goes on to say.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is now “exploring with Nanospace the limits of this emerging MEMS-based micropropulsion technology for high-accuracy propulsion applications,” she adds.
“The synergy between space and non-space research and development, as in the case of Scint-X, illustrates the potential of technology transfer,” says the leader of the ESA Technology Transfer Program Office, Frank M. Salzgeber.