Bone is a dynamic biological tissue that acts as the primary rigid support of the body. Several systemic factors are responsible for pathologies that negatively affect its structural attributes. Although the bone is in continuous renewal by osteogenesis, metabolic diseases are the most common affectations that alter its natural equilibrium. Different techniques based on ionizing radiation are used for the bone diagnosis restrictively. However, if these are not used adequately, the application could present risks for human health. In this paper, it is proposed and explored a new technique to apply an early-stage diagnosis of bone variations. The technique evaluates bone structural conditions from the teeth (used as probes) by applying a structural health monitoring (SHM) methodology. An experimental procedure is described to identify the stiffness variations produced by mechanical drillings done in prepared bone samples. The identification is carried out applying the electromechanical impedance technique (EMI) through a piezo-actuated device in the frequency spectrum 5–20kHz. Three bone samples with incorporated teeth (three teeth, two teeth, and one tooth) were prepared to emulate a mandibular portion of alveolar bone-PDL (periodontal ligament)-tooth system. Piezo-device was attached to the crown of the tooth with an orthodontic bracket allowing the teeth to act as probes. The electrical resistance measurements were computed with an electrical decoupling approach that improved the detection of the drillings; it was due to the increment of the sensitivity of the signals. The results showed that the bone mass reduction is correlated with statistical indices obtained in specific frequency intervals of the electrical resistance. This work suggests the possibility of a future application addressed to a bone diagnosis in a non-invasive way.

骨骼是一种动态的生物组织，作为身体的主要刚性支撑。几个系统性因素负责对其结构属性产生负面影响的病理。尽管骨骼通过成骨不断更新，但代谢疾病是改变其自然平衡的最常见影响。基于电离辐射的不同技术被限制性地用于骨骼诊断。但是，如果这些没有得到充分使用，则该应用程序可能会对人类健康构成风险。在本文中，提出并探索了一种新技术来应用骨骼变异的早期诊断。该技术通过应用结构健康监测 (SHM) 方法来评估牙齿（用作探针）的骨骼结构状况。描述了一种实验程序，以识别在制备的骨骼样本中进行的机械钻孔所产生的刚度变化。识别是通过5-20kHz频谱中的压电驱动装置应用机电​​阻抗技术（EMI）进行的。制备了三个带有牙齿的骨骼样本（三颗牙齿、两颗牙齿和一颗牙齿）以模拟牙槽骨-PDL（牙周韧带）-牙齿系统的下颌部分。压电装置通过正畸支架连接到牙冠，让牙齿充当探针。电阻测量值是使用电去耦方法计算的，该方法改进了钻孔检测；这是由于信号灵敏度的增加。结果表明，骨量减少与在电阻的特定频率间隔中获得的统计指数相关。这项工作表明了未来以非侵入性方式进行骨骼诊断的应用的可能性。