Patent ID: 6845265

Claim:
An apical foramen locator comprising: a power circuit operable to generate a stimulus voltage across two electrodes and across a reference resistor connected to one of the electrodes; an impedance-sensing circuit operable to sense the stimulus voltage, a first voltage across the two electrodes and a second voltage across the reference resistor; at least one impedance map including apical foramen location data corresponding to a combination of a first voltage index and a second voltage index wherein the apical foramen location data is generated from reference teeth; a processing component including a memory storing the at least one impedance map and a microprocessor that is operable to derive the first and second voltage indices from the voltages sensed by the impedance-sensing circuit and to select from the impedance map apical foramen location data that corresponds to the first and second voltage indices; and a display operable to present the selected apical foramen location data.