title: Bioimpedance measurements in dentistry to detect inflammation: numerical modelling and experimental results.
abstract: Bioimpedance measurements represent an advantageous method to evaluate the physio-pathological conditions of biological tissues and their use is spreading in different application fields, from the evaluation of body composition to the vital signs monitoring, passing through the individuation of cancer tissues and the detection of different substances (e.g. glucose measurements in people affected by diabetes). In fact, tissues electric properties vary with their conditions; for example, electrical conductivity increases when there is an inflammatory process, because of the presence of oedema, hyperaemia and infiltration. Inflammatory phenomena are frequent in dentistry, in diseases like periodontitis and peri-implantitis; however, at present the diagnosis is mainly done with the naked eye, by observing the gingiva redness and swelling.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this work is to prove the feasibility of the inflammation detection by means of bioimpedance measurements.
  
  
  METHODS
  Both numerical simulations and preliminary experimental measurements provide significant outcomes in differentiating between healthy and inflamed tissues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Percentage differences in the impedance modulus equal to 4-20% (numerical simulations) and 35-56% (experimental measurements), respectively, depending on the considered conditions (e.g. electrodes characteristics and inflammation severity), were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Such a measure could be integrated in electromedical devices designed, for example, for the therapy of peri-implantitis, in order to personalise the therapeutic dose in terms of intensity and duration and focusing it on the impaired area, minimising the effects on the surrounding tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, v. Brecce Bianche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cosoli
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scalise
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tricarico
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cerri
mesh_terms: D003813:Dentistry; D058266:Dielectric Spectroscopy; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012984:Software