Importance

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Abstract

The invention relates to a dental tray assembly for intraoral imaging of an edentulous dental arch and/or palate. The dental tray assembly includes a base surface and an opposing external surface. An anterior wall is connected to the base surface and extends arcuately either side of a central axis coinciding, in use, with the labial frenulum. A posterior edge connects opposing sides of the anterior wall. The base surface and the anterior wall together define a concave trough for at least partially surrounding an edentulous arch. A spaced-apart array of ultrasound imaging elements is attached to the dental tray within the trough for emitting and receiving ultrasound signals, the received ultrasound signals being representative of the surface topography and/or sub-surface structures of an edentulous dental arch and/or palate to be imaged. Advantageously, by distributing the array of ultrasound imaging elements across the surface area of dental tray the entire edentulous arch and/or palate can be imaged instantaneously. Optionally, received ultrasound signals can be communicated to a remote device, such as a smartphone, running a software App which processes signals to form a virtual digital impression of the dental arches enabling the manufacture of prosthetic dentures having enhanced comfort and stability.

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First Claim