| 主权项 |
1. A dental ultrasonography system comprising:
a dental ultrasonography probe that includes a scanning ultrasonography transducer that generates a narrow beam ultrasonic transmission signal over a sequence of beam angles, that receives an ultrasonic return signal, and that generates a receive signal in response to the ultrasonic return signal, wherein the scanning ultrasonography transducer includes a piezoelectric element to produce the sequence of beam angles, said sequence of beam angles and said receive signal coupled to a processing device which forms an image; where said processing device receives the receive signal to automatically detect at least one dental feature used in dental implant therapy; said automatic detection performing a comparison of said receive signal to a plurality of exemplars stored in a memory, said exemplars including at least one of: soft tissue, a dental implant, an unerupted tooth, a fixation screw, a metallic object, mental foramen, a dehiscence over a tooth, a fenestration over a tooth, a dehiscence over a dental implant, a fenestration over a dental implant, an inherited defect to a craniofacial bone, an acquired defect to a craniofacial bone, a stone in a salivary duct, a stone in a gland, presence of a foreign body in soft tissue, or gingiva; at least one said exemplar having an associated image overlay; where, upon a matching comparison of said receive signal to at least one of said exemplars, said processing device displays said image overlay associated with said matching exemplar positioned adjacent to said matching comparison in said image. |
