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Design and Development Award

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QDT’s Canary System wins International Medical Device 
Design and Development Award

Josh Silvertown, vice president of corporate development of QDT, talks with a meeting attendee at the recent IADR meeting in Barcelona, Spain. (DTI/Photo Daniel Zimmerman)
Quantum Dental Technologies (QDT)

Quantum Dental Technologies (QDT)

Fri. 27 August 2010

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TORONTO, CANADA: Quantum Dental Technologies (QDT), a medical device company, became the first Canadian business to win the National Instruments (NI) Graphical System Design Achievement Award in the Medical Device Design and Development category. QDT was the only Canadian company to win an award at the 16th Annual NIWeek 2010 conference and exhibition, held 3-5 August in Austin, TX, USA.

QDT has developed The Canary System, a non-invasive, accurate, repeatable and highly sensitive approach to the detection, monitoring and treatment of early tooth decay.

“The NI award demonstrates that QDT’s innovation and advanced technology is recognized on an international stage,” said Dr Stephen Abrams, dental clinician, founder and president of QDT. “The Canary System’s robust and intuitive user interface is both dentist- and patient-friendly. It sets a new standard for the detection and treatment of early tooth decay.”

NI Awards

The National Instruments Graphical System Design Achievement Awards is a technical application contest, showcasing the most cutting-edge projects based on NI software and hardware. This year, NI received 108 submissions from authors in more than 20 countries. A judging committee of technical publication editors and NI experts reviewed the entries and selected the winners based on products’ technical complexity, benefits to society, innovation and use of first-class graphical system design tooling.

The Medical Device Design and Development category showcases the diverse and innovative ways that engineers and scientists have designed, prototyped, and deployed PC-based or portable technologies for medical devices using graphical system design tools combined with flexible, off-the-shelf, embedded hardware.

“The Canary System was a stand-out application in the medical device category,” said John Hanks, vice president of medical and life sciences at National Instruments. “QDT’s success story is an industry-leading example of how NI LabVIEW can provide a rapid-prototyping platform for extremely sophisticated medical device design. We are proud that our technology is helping revolutionize how cavities are detected and treated.”

The Canary System’s graphical design

QDT’s submission focused on the use of National Instruments LabVIEW 2009 software to develop The Canary System’s easy-to-use interface. The interface enables The Canary System to generate custom reports for both the patient and oral healthcare provider.

The reports are displayed on an interactive, touch-screen monitor for immediate chairside review with patients. Patient reports include an odontogram, incorporating Canary numbers and colour-coding to illustrate the severity of tooth decay for examined teeth. Red, yellow and green colours are used to demonstrate which areas need attention. The patient report also includes the recommendations for home and office treatment, and timing of the next visit.

The dental report contains images of the surfaces examined along with the Canary numbers. During the examination, The Canary System’s interface also verbally communicates the Canary numbers, which helps engage the patients into the scanning routine. All of the information is stored on the system, or on the Canary Cloud for offices with wireless Internet access. No other tooth decay detection device on the market is capable of generating reports for dental staff and patients.

The Canary System

The Canary System is the first and only complete dental program to integrate the full spectrum of caries (tooth decay) management – from detection to treatment. It employs a novel method of measuring the heat (Photo-Thermal Radiometry or PTR) and reflected laser light (luminescence or LUM) from tooth surfaces.

It centres on a unique, painless, sensitive and non-invasive tooth decay detection device, based on extensive research, including over 40 published research papers and abstracts in peer-reviewed dental and clinical journals. It is the only system that is validated by two Health Canada approved investigational studies demonstrating safety and efficacy. Unlike other detection devices, The Canary System identifies and monitors tooth decay on all tooth surfaces, and doesn’t require teeth to be dried, cleaned or isolated prior to scanning.

It is the only system that combines detection and monitoring with treatment recommendations, remineralization (tooth repair) therapies, and custom reports for the patient and oral healthcare provider. The Canary System is also the only interactive tooth decay detection tool with a voice component. As the user scans each tooth surface, The Canary System audibly announces the Canary Number (a measure of tooth decay), prompting patients to inquire about the meaning of the number, the location of the decay and their treatment options.

With its unique take-home reports for patients and interactive scans, The Canary System empowers patients to take ownership of their own oral healthcare in a way no other tooth decay detection system has done.

Quantum Dental Technologies (QDT) is an early-stage, Toronto-based medical device company specializing in the field of oral healthcare. The QDT team has expertise in business, dental practice, clinical research, laser technology, and worldwide recognition in the oral health profession. QDT has designed and developed The Canary System, a patented technology. The Canary System will be available to dental health providers in early 2011.

 

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