Accuracy of artificial intelligence-designed single-molar dental prostheses: A feasibility study

Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Published:January 09, 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prosdent.2022.12.004 Abstract Statement of problem Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) technology has greatly improved the efficiency of the fabrication of dental prostheses. However, the design process (CAD stage) is still time-consuming and labor intensive. Purpose The purpose of this feasibility study was to investigate the accuracy of a novel artificial intelligence (AI) system in designing biomimetic single-molar dental prostheses by comparing and matching them to the natural molar teeth. Material and methods A total of 169 maxillary casts were obtained from healthy dentate participants. The casts were digitized, duplicated, and processed with the removal of the maxillary right first molar. A total of 159 pairs of original and processed casts were input into the Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for training. In validation, 10 sets of processed casts were input into the AI system, and 10 AI-designed teeth were generated through backpropagation. Individual AI-designed teeth were then superimposed onto each of the 10 original teeth, and the morphological differences in mean Hausdorff distance were measured. True reconstruction was defined as correct matching between the AI-designed and original teeth with the smallest mean Hausdorff distance. The ratio of true reconstruction was calculated as the Intersection-over-Union. The reconstruction performance of the AI system was determined by the Hausdorff distance and Intersection-over-Union. Results Data of validation showed that the mean Hausdorff distance ranged from 0.441 to 0.752 mm and the Intersection-over-Union of the system was 0.600 (60%). Conclusions This study demonstrated the feasibility of AI in designing single-molar dental prostheses. With further training and optimization of algorithms, the accuracy of biomimetic AI-designed dental prostheses could be further enhanced. Clinical ImplicationsThis preliminary study supported the further development of and research into AI in restorative dentistry and prosthodontics.