Lead vests might not have a place in the dentist’s office in a few years.

An Iowa State professor and alumnus have discovered ultrasonic waves probably can be used in the place of X-rays to detect cavities in teeth.

Bill Lord, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, said he and Solomon Ghorayeb — a former graduate student in electrical and computer engineering — created a theoretical model on which to test their theory a few years ago at Iowa State.

“My research area is in the non-destructive testing of engineering structures, like airplane wings — where you use ultrasound waves to detect defects — and we had developed mathematical models on our computer to see how ultrasound or electrical energy reacts with defects in teeth,” he said.

Ghorayeb worked with Lord on the original project while he was a graduate student.

“Professor Lord basically collaborated with me with his expertise in ultrasound to use the existing numerical model to study the way that ultrasonic waves would travel through the teeth,” he said.

He said they ran the program with a three-layer model of a human second molar.

The technique was successful in detecting cavities on the computer models, Lord said.

“Ultrasound works on a tooth much like it works on determining the sex of a baby in its mother’s womb,” he said.

He said X-rays can be dangerous because they use radiation, but the ultrasound method is not.

“[Ultrasound] is not dangerous at the levels you would need to use to image the inside of the tooth,” he said.

Ghorayeb went on to receive a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from ISU and is now an assistant professor in electrical and biomedical engineering at Hofstra University in Long Island, N.Y.

After Lord stopped studying tooth ultrasounds, Ghorayeb continued the research of the technique’s practical application.

He experimented with ultrasonic waves and tooth models made of enamel and found not only did the waves find cavities, they also were useful in the early detection of dental abscesses — which cannot be done with X-rays.

“With early detection, abscesses can be treated with antibiotics instead of a root canal,” he said.

Ghorayeb said he was been working in collaboration with University of Iowa to come up with the technique.

They have submitted the dental ultrasound idea to the U.S. Patent Office and are waiting for its approval, he said.

Ghorayeb said dental ultrasounds likely will be used in dental offices in a year or two.

“Everything is in place to produce it; we just need to produce it and get FDA approval,” he said.