Dental practitioners versus artificial intelligence software in assessing alveolar bone loss using intraoral radiographs

Abstract

Objectives: Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in the dental field can potentially enhance the efficiency of dental care. However, few studies have investigated whether AI software can achieve results comparable to those obtained by dental practitioners (general practitioners (GPs) and specialists) when assessing alveolar bone loss in a clinical setting. Thus, this study compared the performance of AI in assessing periodontal bone loss with those of GPs and specialists.

Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study evaluated the performance of dental practitioners and AI software in assessing alveolar bone loss. Radiographs were randomly selected to ensure representative samples. Dental practitioners independently evaluated the radiographs, and the AI software "Second Opinion Software" was tested using the same set of radiographs evaluated by the dental practitioners. The results produced by the AI software were then compared with the baseline values to measure their accuracy and allow direct comparison with the performance of human specialists.

Results: The survey received 149 responses, where each answered 10 questions to compare the measurements made by AI and dental practitioners when assessing the amount of bone loss radiographically. The mean estimates of the participants had a moderate positive correlation with the radiographic measurements (rho = 0.547, p < 0.001) and a weaker but still significant correlation with AI measurements (rho = 0.365, p < 0.001). AI measurements had a stronger positive correlation with the radiographic measurements (rho = 0.712, p < 0.001) compared with their correlation with the estimates of dental practitioners.

Conclusion: This study highlights the capacity of AI software to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of radiograph-based evaluations of alveolar bone loss. Dental practitioners are vital for the clinical experience but AI technology provides a consistent and replicable methodology. Future collaborations between AI experts, researchers, and practitioners could potentially optimize patient care.

Keywords: Alveolar bone loss; Artificial intelligence; Deep learning; Dental radiography; Periodontics.

Figure 1

(A) Plain radiographs without any measurements for annotation by dental practitioners in the questionnaire. (B) Radiographs including measurements generated by AI software. (C) Radiographs calibrated and labeled by consultants, which were used to detect labels for alveolar bone loss and applied as the reference standard for comparison.

Figure 2

Relationship between relative frequency of AI measurements and relative frequency of radiographic measurements.

Figure 3

Relationship between mean estimates of dental practitioners and radiographic measurements.

Figure 4

Correlation between number of measurements and mean estimates of dental practitioners.