A deep learning approach to permanent tooth germ detection on pediatric panoramic radiographs

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the performance of a deep learning system for permanent tooth germ detection on pediatric panoramic radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 4518 anonymized panoramic radiographs of children between 5 and 13 years of age were collected. YOLOv4, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based object detection model, was used to automatically detect permanent tooth germs. Panoramic images of children processed in LabelImg were trained and tested in the YOLOv4 algorithm. True-positive, false-positive, and false-negative rates were calculated. A confusion matrix was used to evaluate the performance of the model. RESULTS: The YOLOv4 model, which detected permanent tooth germs on pediatric panoramic radiographs, provided an average precision value of 94.16% and an F1 value of 0.90, indicating a high level of significance. The average YOLOv4 inference time was 90 ms. CONCLUSION: The detection of permanent tooth germs on pediatric panoramic X-rays using a deep learning-based approach may facilitate the early diagnosis of tooth deficiency or supernumerary teeth and help dental practitioners find more accurate treatment options while saving time and effort.