NOMAD receives WSJ Technology Innovation Award

“We’re very pleased by this honor,” said D. Clark Turner, PhD, president and CEO of Aribex. “This is our first national innovation award, and it feels great that our seven years of hard work and focus has paid off so successfully. We also appreciate being listed with the other highly notable companies that have received this distinction.”

The journal reports receiving nearly 600 applications from companies, organizations and individuals in 30 countries. Following a review from the publication’s editors, about 275 entries were forwarded to a panel of judges from research institutions, venture-capital firms and other companies, and 49 entries were finally chosen for awards.

The NOMAD is the world’s first handheld X-ray for dental use. Unlike the old-fashioned concept of wall-mounted X-ray systems that dentists have traditionally used, NOMAD represents a new approach: it’s handheld, cordless and can go anywhere.

When the X-ray machine was invented more than a century ago, it was known to have dangerous implications because it emitted radiation. In response, safety protocols were put into place for its use, such as lead-lined walls, lead vests for both operator and patient, the operator leaving the room, special dosimetry (radiation monitors) and so forth.

Aribex changed this paradigm by developing unique and proprietary shielding for the X-ray tube so the radiation only goes toward the targeted area. In addition, an external backscatter shield was developed to protect the operator from radiation reflected from the patient during the procedure.

This makes the NOMAD safe enough to be held in the hand and used right next to the patient without many of the protocols previously required. As a result, the design of the NOMAD permits X-rays to be taken virtually anywhere, in or out of the office.

The NOMAD increases dental office productivity because it reduces the time required to take a series of X-rays. The NOMAD X-ray system requires no bulky arms, backing plates for walls, special cabinets or costly electrical hookups. In fact, no installation is needed other than plugging in a small recharger unit.

Because it easily moves from treatment room to treatment room, one NOMAD can take the place of several conventional wall-mounted X-ray units in a typical dental office environment, saving dentists money when purchasing capital equipment.

These innovations also allow X-rays to be taken without moving the patient, so patients in wheelchairs, for example, do not have to be moved to the dental chair. Bed-ridden patients with dental issues can now have care on a level that was previously not possible. Sedated patients in oral surgery now can be X-rayed without being repositioned.

Previously, taking an intraoral X-ray of a child has been a hit-or-miss affair because children often will not sit still and will move their heads while the X-ray is being taken. This results in a retake and additional radiation exposure to the patient.

Now the operator can stay with the child, comfort anxious patients and take the X-ray when the child is ready. This has also been of great value with special needs patients, such as those with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and physically or mentally limited individuals.

The NOMAD has also been used in veterinary dental diagnostic applications and in forensic victim identification, most notably during the Asian Tsunami in 2004 and the recent earthquake in Haiti.

The device has been used extensively in humanitarian missions around the world, going where traditional X-rays could never previously go.

More information is available from Aribex.