Artificial Intelligence Application in Assessment of Panoramic Radiographs.

The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the artificial intelligence (AI) automatic evaluation of panoramic radiographs (PRs). Thirty PRs, covering at least six teeth with the possibility of assessing the marginal and apical periodontium, were uploaded to the Diagnocat (LLC Diagnocat, Moscow, Russia) account, and the radiologic report of each was generated as the basis of automatic evaluation. The same PRs were manually evaluated by three independent evaluators with 12, 15, and 28 years of experience in dentistry, respectively. The data were collected in such a way as to allow statistical analysis with SPSS Statistics software (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). A total of 90 reports were created for 30 PRs. The AI protocol showed very high specificity (above 0.9) in all assessments compared to ground truth except from periodontal bone loss. Statistical analysis showed a high interclass correlation coefficient (ICC > 0.75) for all interevaluator assessments, proving the good credibility of the ground truth and the reproducibility of the reports. Unacceptable reliability was obtained for caries assessment (ICC = 0.681) and periapical lesions assessment (ICC = 0.619). The tested AI system can be helpful as an initial evaluation of screening PRs, giving appropriate credibility reports and suggesting additional diagnostic methods for more accurate evaluation if needed.

Chemical aspect of sodium hypochlorite activation in obtaining favorable outcomes of endodontic treatment: An in-vitro study.

BACKGROUND: Endodontic treatment is one of the most widely performed procedures in a dental office. New techniques for enhancing the effectiveness of irrigants are being introduced into the dental market. It is crucial to choose a proper method to obtain the highest possible long-term success of performed endodontic treatment. Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) appears to be one of the most common and profitable solutions for root canal irrigation. The activation of a solution may be analyzed in 2 fields, physical - turbulence of flow, and chemical - disintegration of irrigant molecules into very active radicals that improve its activity. While the physical alternations of irrigant flow with different techniques are widely studied, there are not many attempts to approach the subject in chemical terms. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to compare the chemical effectiveness of 2 methods of NaOCl activation: ultrasonics vs the Self-Adjusting File system (SAF) as an adjunct to increase the efficacy of the irrigant. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The level of activation was evaluated via a reaction of the activated NaOCl samples, with 9-fluorenol as the starting organic material. The model reaction is based on the oxidation of 9-fluorenol to 9-fluorenon. The evaluation was performed using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, comparing the spectra obtained for the examined mixtures. RESULTS: Nuclear magnetic resonance studies show that the use of ultrasonics resulted in increased chemical degradation of NaOCl as compared to the SAF system and non-agitated samples. The prevalence of chemical activation in the ultrasonic group over the SAF group was almost 3 times higher, 3.11 to 1.20, respectively. The Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test revealed there is a statistically significant difference in distributions between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Both SAF and ultrasonics activate NaOCl. Ultrasonic agitation provided higher chemical activation of NaOCl solution than the SAF. The use of ultrasonic agitation of NaOCl in endodontic treatment will allow us to obtain better long-term clinical results.

Preliminary results of screening for pathological lesions in oral mucosa and incidence of oral cancer risk factors in adult population

INTRODUCTION: Oral cancer is a significant problem among global population. In Poland a few thousands of new incidents are reported annually. Prophylaxis and early detection help decreasing the incidence rate. Screening programmes are a tool that enable to achieve that goal. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence of selected risk factors and pathological lesions of oral mucosa in adult population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 253 patients. After undertaking a medical history in a form of a questionnaire, a conventional intraoral soft tissue examination was performed. This was followed by use of cool white light (Microlux DL Addent). RESULTS: Among patients following risk factors were frequently found: tobacco smoking - 20.9% patients, alcohol consumption - 2/3 of patients drink occasionally, 8.7% drink on regular basis. Over 80% patients were sexually active. 3 patients suffered from oral cancer, 21 patients gave a history of cancer in other locations, 54.2% reported a family history of cancer. Screened patients declare quite healthy diet, although level of grilled and fried meat consumption is fairly high. 37.8% patients were alarmed by the condition of the oral mucosa but only half of them reported it to their dentist. Most of the lesions were found on the buccal mucosa (88 patients, 34.8%), retromandibular triangle and palate and most of lesions were white lesions, categorized as traumatic. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study showed, that the incidence of oral cancer risk factors is high in this population. The incidence of pathological lesions of oral mucosa was also high. The study showed low awareness of oral cancer prevention, risk factors and symptoms.