Identification of Dental Implant Systems Using a Large-Scale Multicenter Data Set

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of deep learning (DL) for the identification and classification of various types of dental implant systems (DISs) using a large-scale multicenter data set. We also compared the classification accuracy of DL and dental professionals. The data set, which was collected from 5 college dental hospitals and 10 private dental clinics, contained 37,442 (24.8%) periapical and 113,291 (75.2%) panoramic radiographic images and consisted of a total of 10 manufacturers and 25 different types of DISs. The classification accuracy of DL was evaluated using a pretrained and modified ResNet-50 architecture, and comparison of accuracy performance and reading time between DL and dental professionals was conducted using a self-reported questionnaire. When comparing the accuracy performance for classification of DISs, DL (accuracy: 82.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 75.9%–87.0%) outperformed most of the participants (mean accuracy: 23.5% ± 18.5%; 95% CI, 18.5%–32.3%), including dentists specialized (mean accuracy: 43.3% ± 20.4%; 95% CI, 12.7%–56.2%) and not specialized (mean accuracy: 16.8% ± 9.0%; 95% CI, 12.8%–20.9%) in implantology. In addition, DL tends to require lesser reading and classification time (4.5 min) than dentists who specialized (75.6 ± 31.0 min; 95% CI, 13.1–78.4) and did not specialize (91.3 ± 38.3 min; 95% CI, 74.1–108.6) in implantology. DL achieved reliable outcomes in the identification and classification of various types of DISs, and the classification accuracy performance of DL was significantly superior to that of specialized or nonspecialized dental professionals. DL as a decision support aid can be successfully used for the identification and classification of DISs encountered in clinical practice.