An Assessment of Deep Learning’s Impact on General Dentists’ Ability to Detect Alveolar Bone Loss in 2D Intraoral Radiographs

Abstract

Background/Objective: Deep learning (DL) technology has shown potential in enhancing diagnostic accuracy in dentomaxillofacial radiology, particularly for detecting carious lesions, apical lesions, and periodontal bone loss. However, its effect on general dentists’ ability to detect radiographic bone loss (RBL) in clinical practice remains unclear. This study investigates the impact of the Denti.AI DL technology on general dentists’ ability to identify bone loss in intraoral radiographs, addressing this gap in the literature. Methods: Ten dentists from the university’s dental clinics independently assessed 26 intraoral radiographs (periapical and bitewing) for bone loss using a Likert scale probability index with and without DL assistance. The participants viewed images on identical monitors with controlled lighting. This study generated 3940 data points for analysis. The statistical analyses included receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, area under the curve (AUC), and ANOVA tests. Results: Most dentists showed minor improvement in detecting bone loss on periapical radiographs when using DL. For bitewing radiographs, only a few dentists showed minor improvement. Overall, the difference in diagnostic accuracy between evaluations with and without DL was minimal (0.008). The differences in AUC for periapical and bitewing radiographs were 0.031 and −0.009, respectively, and were not statistically significant. Conclusions: This study found no statistically significant improvement in experienced dentists’ diagnostic accuracy for detecting bone loss in intraoral radiographs when using Denti.AI deep learning technology.

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