Buccal-Lingual Analysis and Inflammation Tracking in Oral Soft Tissues Using Quantitative Ultrasound: A Preclinical Study
Abstract
Four out of 10 adults aged 30 years or older in the USA are impacted by periodontal diseases which span a spectrum of inflammatory conditions. Currently, a subjective, invasive and a semi-quantitative approach, termed bleeding on probing, is employed in clinics for inflammation assessment. The long-term goal of this study is to fill the current clinical diagnostic gap in dentistry by proposing quantitative ultrasound (QUS)-based biomarkers for inflammation diagnosis and monitoring. Here, as one of the early works in this area, we investigated two QUS parameters for characterizing periodontal inflammation in gingival tissues using a longitudinal preclinical porcine study: attenuation coefficient slope (ACS) and backscatter intensity (BSI). Our study included eight pigs imaged intraorally (24 MHz) at four bi-weekly timepoints from week 0 (healthy) to week 6 (post inflammation inoculation) at their interproximal sites of the third premolars (PM3-Mes) from all quadrants. Moreover, we compared gingival tissues surrounding a tooth at lingual/palatal side versus buccal side at the second molar (M2-Dis) in healthy condition. Our results showed that gingival ACS at all inflammation timepoints were significantly lower than healthy gingival ACS (1.69 \pm 0.53 dB/cm.MHz) using a mixed effect analysis (week 6: 1.08 \pm 0.25 dB/cm.MHz). Longitudinal comparison of BSI did not demonstrate any statistical significance. Gingival ACS and BSI at lingual/palatal versus buccal sides of M2-Dis did not exhibit any statistical significance. These ACSs were linearly correlated with R-squared = 0.89 and a correlation slope of 0.87. For BSI, Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated no difference in mean BSI, although variability was high. These findings highlight the promising potential of ultrasonography paired with QUS to complement current standard of care in dentistry.
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BibTeX
@misc{poul2026buccallingual,
title = {{Buccal-Lingual Analysis and Inflammation Tracking in Oral Soft Tissues Using Quantitative Ultrasound: A Preclinical Study}},
author = {Daria Poul and Amanda Rodriguez Betancourt and Ankita Samal and Carole Quesada and Ted Lynch and Cristel Baiu and J. Brian Fowlkes and Hsun-Liang Chan and Oliver D. Kripfgans},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.23931},
eprint = {2609.23931},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.23931},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Buccal-Lingual Analysis and Inflammation Tracking in Oral Soft Tissues Using Quantitative Ultrasound: A Preclinical Study
AU - Daria Poul
AU - Amanda Rodriguez Betancourt
AU - Ankita Samal
AU - Carole Quesada
AU - Ted Lynch
AU - Cristel Baiu
AU - J. Brian Fowlkes
AU - Hsun-Liang Chan
AU - Oliver D. Kripfgans
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/20
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.23931
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.23931
AB - Four out of 10 adults aged 30 years or older in the USA are impacted by periodontal diseases which span a spectrum of inflammatory conditions. Currently, a subjective, invasive and a semi-quantitative approach, termed bleeding on probing, is employed in clinics for inflammation assessment. The long-term goal of this study is to fill the current clinical diagnostic gap in dentistry by proposing quantitative ultrasound (QUS)-based biomarkers for inflammation diagnosis and monitoring. Here, as one of the early works in this area, we investigated two QUS parameters for characterizing periodontal inflammation in gingival tissues using a longitudinal preclinical porcine study: attenuation coefficient slope (ACS) and backscatter intensity (BSI). Our study included eight pigs imaged intraorally (24 MHz) at four bi-weekly timepoints from week 0 (healthy) to week 6 (post inflammation inoculation) at their interproximal sites of the third premolars (PM3-Mes) from all quadrants. Moreover, we compared gingival tissues surrounding a tooth at lingual/palatal side versus buccal side at the second molar (M2-Dis) in healthy condition. Our results showed that gingival ACS at all inflammation timepoints were significantly lower than healthy gingival ACS (1.69 \pm 0.53 dB/cm.MHz) using a mixed effect analysis (week 6: 1.08 \pm 0.25 dB/cm.MHz). Longitudinal comparison of BSI did not demonstrate any statistical significance. Gingival ACS and BSI at lingual/palatal versus buccal sides of M2-Dis did not exhibit any statistical significance. These ACSs were linearly correlated with R-squared = 0.89 and a correlation slope of 0.87. For BSI, Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated no difference in mean BSI, although variability was high. These findings highlight the promising potential of ultrasonography paired with QUS to complement current standard of care in dentistry.
ER -