The growing footprint of artificial intelligence in periodontology & implant dentistry.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. AI has been making waves in various fields, and dentistry is no exception. In recent years, AI has been increasingly used in periodontology and implant dentistry to improve patient outcomes and streamline dental procedures. AI has gained recent public prominence with the release of deep-learning models that can generate anything from art to term papers with minimal human intervention. This development has reinvigorated the discussion of AI’s existing and potential roles in all aspects of life. Among the wide range of fields with possible applications of AI, however, medicine and dentistry stand out due to tremendous potentials and equally substantial challenges. AI development has proved successful in solving problems in specific areas by learning distinct thinking mechanisms and perceptions, with a rapidly increasing number of manuscripts that consider some aspect of AI application in medicine and dentistry.1,2 AI is ever-increasing in medicine and dentistry as an assistive tool, becoming a central tenet in providing safe and effective healthcare. More recently, deep learning has been the mainstay of this endeavor, mainly through its applications stemming from the use of artificial neural networks that exhibit a very high degree of complexity,3 where large numbers of artificial neurons (or nodes) are connected into layers, and several hundreds or thousands of layers are assembled into specific structures called architectures. Deep learning networks can assess large volumes of data to perform specific tasks, among which electronic health records, imaging data, wearable-device sensor collections, and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing play a prominent role. These are classically used in medical fields for computer-aided diagnoses, personalized treatments, genomic analyses, and treatment response assessments. Periodontics is an important field of dentistry that focuses on the health of periodontium, the tissues that support teeth. Periodontitis is the sixth most prevalent disease worldwide.4 AI can help in the early detection of periodontal disease by analyzing radiographs and identifying changes in bone density and periodontal tissue, which allows for earlier intervention and better treatment outcomes. There has been a marked increase in the number of studies published in this field over the last decade. One example is algorithms for diagnosing and predicting the teeth that are compromised with periodontal health. Scott et al5 reviewed the literature describing the effect AI has on the diagnosis and epidemiology of periodontitis. Extensive search was performed in April 2022, including studies where AI was employed as an independent variable in the assessment, diagnosis, or treatment of patients with periodontitis. Furthermore, other research efforts showed that AI, with its varied methods and applications, such as machine learning, will change the face of periodontology in the upcoming years.5-8 Implantology is the growing field of dentistry dedicated to dental implants. Implant dentistry involves the placement of artificial tooth roots to support replacement teeth. AI applications are growing in dental implant procedures. One application of AI in implant dentistry is its use in digital three-dimensional (3D) treatment planning for aligning intraoral 3D images with conebeam computed tomography (CBCT) data in software for surgical evaluation and planning. The current software technology enables accurate 3D planning as per practitioners’ choice. AI can assist in implant planning by analyzing intraoral scan and CBCT data of a patient to determine the optimal location for implant placement, reducing the risk of complications during surgery and improving the success rate of implants. AI can also aid