One of Dr. Ken Johnson’s patients at his dental office in
Corvallis, Oregon was a timber products engineer who had a painful tooth. The
patient did not want an x-ray due to radiation. An x-ray would have been little
benefit, since the problem tooth had a metal crown and x-ray would not
penetrate the metal. This engineer developed ultrasound to image logs before
milling – to avoid knots. Dr. Johnson is an avid woodworker who understands the
similarity between a log and a tooth. This led Dr. Johnson to pose the question
– “can ultrasound detect cracks and cavities in teeth?”
The answer to his question was YES. The solution of using
ultrasound in dentistry has grown into S-Ray Corporation, founded in January
2008.
The vision of S-Ray is to provide dentists and their
patients with an objective image of the inside of a tooth clearly showing any
cracks or cavities, without radiation and under or behind metal or other
materials.
The mission of the management is to provide this technology
to dentists as quickly as possible.
