自適應流體探針之設計與齲齒檢測之應用

A Self-Adaptive Fluidic Probe for Electrical Caries Detection

張紹宣(Shao-Hsuan Chang)

指導教授 ： 蘇育全

國立清華大學/原子科學院/工程與系統科學系/碩士(2007年)

摘要

本研究發展出以電阻抗法作為齲齒檢測機制，且能隨牙齒表面形貌改變形狀的流體探針。基於琺瑯質有著極高的阻抗值，當琺瑯質被齲蝕產生孔洞，阻抗值很小的唾液將代替琺瑯質填充至孔洞，利用此點可判斷出何處有齲齒的危機。流體探針之尖端液體可在親水性牙齒表面自發地延展，並且滲入齲齒孔隙中，與牙齒有著緊密的接觸，減小了接觸電阻的產生。探針尖端使用聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯為主要材料，以雷射雕刻製作出寬度約100um的液體流道。液體流道鍍有一層銀金屬，可同時作為引導電流的通道；表面覆有一層高分子薄膜，讓液體能從探針尖端流出，並藉以保護流道。管狀氣流則圍繞著流體探針，有著阻絕牙齒表面水膜的功能，讓電流能夠通過牙齒內部；同時藉由調整氣流壓力的大小，進而控制探針液體的延展面積。流體探針已成功判斷出健康與齲齒位置的不同，牙齒健康處的阻抗值約大於齲齒處阻抗值的30倍以上，是相當靈敏且可靠的齲齒檢測工具。流體探針同時能夠檢測隱藏在牙縫的齲齒，此項是其他齲齒檢測方式所難以達到的功能。期望未來此檢測系統能發展成熟，應用至一般家庭生活，成為齲齒診斷上的利器。

關鍵字

齲齒 ； 探針 ； 流體

並列摘要

This thesis presents a miniature fluidic probe that is capable of self-adapting its shape to teeth and detecting caries at its early stage by sensing the variation in electrical-impedance. The fluidic probe, whose liquid tip spontaneously spreads on hydrophilic tooth surfaces and into underneath caries, is employed to create intimate electrical contact for impedance sensing. A tubular air sleeve shaped by the probe casing is applied around the contact point to insulate it from surrounding saliva, and to regulate the spreading of the liquid tip. In the prototype demonstration, 23 un-restored, extracted premolar teeth were investigated and the results indicated >30 times impedance variations between sound and carious teeth, by which caries could be identified in a sensitive and reliable manner. Furthermore, the fluidic probe has been successfully applied to detect approximal caries, which hides between adjacent teeth and is hardly detected by any existing techniques. As such, the proposed self-adaptive fluidic probe could readily serve as a diagnostic tool, which is critical to caries prevention and home-care applications.

並列關鍵字

caries ； probe ； fluidic

參考文獻

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