The Importance Of Detection Design Concepts

Submitted By katebraber
Words: 439
Pages: 2

Preliminary research and brainstorming yielded four potential early carries detection design concepts. One is based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology, second on fluorescent illumination, third on trans-illumination, and the fourth on Laser Induced Reflectance Imagery (LIRI). The four concepts were evaluated using the Pugh chart concept selection method with 17 important criteria. The outstanding importance of cost factor is reflected by the first three criteria, associated with the initial, maintenance, and operation costs of each concept. Two other commonly used pieces of dental equipment, an X-ray machine and a pick with a mirror, were included in the Pugh chart evaluation for additional reference. Each detection method was evaluated against a datum; X-ray was set to datum in the first iteration and OCT in the second iteration.

The evaluation for each datum was performed by each team member individually. The process involved assigning a plus (+) for a given criterion if the concept in question performs better than selected datum, a minus (-) if the concept performs worse, and a zero (0) if a concept performs equally well. The pluses and minuses were then summed and a total score was obtained for each concept. The averaged results from all 6 members are presented in Tables 1 and 2 for X-ray datum and OCT datum, respectively. The Fluorescence concept acquired the highest overall rating in both X-ray datum and OCT datum evaluations, with 5 and 11 respective scores. Total number of pluses was also highest in both iterations, 11 and 12, respectively. Total number of minuses was lowest, 6 and 1, respectively.
For the given criteria, the design concept based on Fluorescent illumination technology is the most promising design and will be further developed into an effective early carries detection device.

Table 1: Pugh Chart evaluation with X-ray datum.
Criteria OCT Fluorescence Trans-illumination LIRI X-Ray Pick/Mirror
Initial Cost - - - - Datum +
Maintenance Cost - - - - +