Sunil Babu Kotha

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science that focuses on designing machines or systems that can perform operations that would typically need human intelligence. AI is a rapidly developing technology that has grabbed the interest of researchers from all across the globe in the healthcare industry. Advancements in machine learning and data analysis have revolutionized oral health diagnosis, treatment, and management, making it a transformative force in healthcare, particularly in dentistry. Particularly in dentistry, AI is becoming increasingly prevalent as it contributes to the diagnosis of oro-facial diseases, offers treatment modalities, and manages practice in the dental operatory. All dental disciplines, including oral medicine, operative dentistry, pediatric dentistry, periodontology, orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, prosthodontics, and forensic odontology, have adopted AI. The majority of AI applications in dentistry are for diagnoses based on radiographic or optical images, while other tasks are less applicable due to constraints such as data availability, uniformity, and computational power. Evidence-based dentistry is considered the gold standard for decision making by dental professionals, while AI machine learning models learn from human expertise. Dentistry AI and technology systems can provide numerous benefits, such as improved diagnosis accuracy and increased administrative task efficiency. Dental practices are already implementing various AI applications, such as imaging and diagnosis, treatment planning, robotics and automation, augmented and virtual reality, data analysis and predictive analytics, and administrative support. The dentistry field has extensively used artificial intelligence to assist less-skilled practitioners in reaching a more precise diagnosis. These AI models effectively recognize and classify patients with various oro-facial problems into different risk categories, both individually and on a group basis. The objective of this descriptive review is to review the most recent developments of AI in the field of dentistry.

Lift the lip: a screening guide among the dental professionals

High levels of inflammatory cytokines in serum have been reported in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. There is growing interest in recognizing the role of inflammatory biomarkers in saliva in diagnosing systemic diseases. This study assumed that estimating biomarkers in saliva samples from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 would distinguish between mild and severe cases. Saliva was collected from 142 controls and 158 SARS-CoV-2 patients (mild 72 and severe 86) to measure interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand-10 (CXCL-10). IL-6 and CXCL-10 were significantly increased in patients with mild and severe SARS-CoV-2 infections. CRP was significantly increased only in severe SARS-CoV-2 cases. All biomarkers were significantly higher in severe cases than in mild cases ( ). Among patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, men showed significantly higher CRP and CXCL-10 levels than females ( and 0.05, respectively). In addition, elderly patients (40–80 years) had significantly higher IL-6, CRP, and CXCL-10 ( ). Patients with diabetes and hypertension showed elevated IL-6, CRP, and CXCL-10 ( ). There was a significant positive correlation between IL-6, CRP, CXCL-10, and between age, IL-6, CRP, and CXCL-10. Saliva may have a future value in measuring the inflammatory biomarkers associated with the severity of SARS-CoV2 infection and therapeutic monitoring.

This study aimed to compare the amount of fluoride uptake and the recharge and release characteristics of conventional glass ionomer cement (GIC) without any additives in comparison to conventional glass ionomer cement supplemented with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) at two concentrations: 0.1% and 0.2% (w/w). A total of 60 specimens were used in this in vitro study. The sample was divided into six groups—including three groups without fluoride charge: Group 1 (conventional GIC), Group 2 (GIC with 0.1% silver nanoparticles), and Group 3 (GIC with 0.2% silver nanoparticles; and three groups with fluoride charge: Group 4 (conventional GIC with fluoride); Group 5 (GIC with 0.1% silver nanoparticles with fluoride); Group 6 (GIC with 0.2% silver nanoparticles with fluoride), where Group 1 is considered the control group and the other five groups are used as the test groups. The amount of fluoride released was measured on days 1, 2, 7, 15, and 30. The comparisons were made between the groups with and without fluoride and among all the groups. A significant difference in the amount of fluoride released was observed between the groups, with the highest amount occurring in Group 1, followed by Group 2; the lowest amount of fluoride released was observed in Group 3 (p < 0.05). The groups with fluoride recharge (Groups 4, 5, and 6) exhibited a higher amount of fluoride release than the groups with no recharge (Groups 1, 2, and 3); however, Group 1 has more fluoride release compared to all other groups on days 1, 2, 7, 15, and 30 (p < 0.05). The amount of released fluoride decreased from day 1 to day 30 in all of the groups in the study. Despite the antimicrobial and anticariogenic benefits of adding silver nanoparticles to GIC, it seems that fluoride release characteristics are significantly affected by the addition of this material. This may force the clinician to a compromise between the antimicrobial benefit of silver nanoparticles and the remineralizing advantage of fluoride.

Objective: To evaluate the penetration and adaptation of highly viscous zinc-reinforced glass ionomer cement (ZRGIC), using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), when applied under various contaminated conditions on grooves and fissures of primary second molars. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 extracted human primary second molars were randomly assigned into five groups (8 teeth each), with different surface conditions (conditioned with 40% polyacrylic acid, dry condition, water contamination, saliva contamination, or saliva contamination and air-drying) on the occlusal surface before placement of zinc-reinforced highly viscous glass ionomer cement with the finger-press technique. After sectioning the teeth, they were subjected to SEM analysis, where four in each group underwent aging by thermocycling and the other four were without aging. ANOVA tests, post hoc analysis, and unpaired t-tests were used for statistical analyses. Results: There was a significant statistical difference in the sealant penetration in the non-aging group, but in the aging group, there was no significant statistical difference in the sealant penetration. On other hand, a significant statistical difference was found in the adaptation between all the groups (p < 0.05). Highly viscous zinc-reinforced glass ionomer fissure sealants have better fissure penetration and more intimate adaptation under fissures conditioned with 40% polyacrylic acid and dry surface fissures with no contamination. However, the best penetration and retention after aging were under contaminated fissures with a shiny layer of saliva. Conclusions: The ZRGIC is a highly viscous fluoride-releasing cement, effectively seals fissures by interfering with food lodgment and protecting teeth from caries. It is advisable to restore the fissures with the minimal technique of sensitive fluoride-releasing GIC, particularly in young, uncooperative children, rather than leaving a caries-prone environment.

This study aimed to identify the association between BMI and dental caries in 6–12-year-old children. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 6–12-year-old school children and their parents. The data on Body Mass Index (BMI) and dental caries for study participants were included in the study. The association between BMI and dental caries was evaluated using SPSS software. The study comprises 400 school children (157 boys and 243 girls) aged an average of 8.9 years. The overall prevalence of dental caries was 84% in primary dentition and 75% in permanent dentition, with a mean DMFT and dmft (decayed, missing and filled teeth) of 2.85 and 5.48, respectively. There was a significant association witnessed between mothers’ education and BMI status. A significant association was also evident between decayed (d), missing (m) and filled (f) teeth and overall dmft with different BMI categories (p < 0.05). There was no significant association evident between DMFT and each category of BMI (p > 0.05). The dmft and DMFT within the four BMI categories by one-way ANOVA were highly significant (p < 0.001). Post hoc analysis helped us identify the relationship among the various categories of BMI with dental caries. There was a positive association evident between the BMI of the children and dental caries.

Aims and Objectives: Self-rated oral health is the key element that has a greater effect on quality of life and found to be authentic and logical to consider this as an indicator for overall oral health status. The aim was to investigate and identify the impact of various social and clinical factors on the perceived self-rated oral health status (PSR-OHS). Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed 600 patients seeking information for age, gender, nationality, educational level, and their last dental visit followed by 15 questions related to social factors (patient self-rated oral health, patient-dentist communication, literacy level of the patient, and dental neglect) followed by estimating the clinical oral health status (decayed, missing, and filled teeth [DMFT] scores as per WHO norms). Results: The results were estimated by a single five-point-response-scale question dichotomized into poor and good self-rated oral health. The average mean age for participation in the study is 32.5 years and found to be highly significant (P < 0.01) with inverse relation indicating that younger patients give better PSR-OHS. There were no significant differences in PSR-OHS among other demographic factors. Patients visiting the dentist recently found to be confident about their PSR-OHS and are statistically significant. Pearson correlating scores of social factors and the DMFT scores most concerned in the present study have a significant relation with self-rated oral health status. Conclusions: PSR-OHS is governed by various dental health and awareness factors. It can be used as an important tool by a clinician to assess the clinical examination results which helps to achieve more effective time and patient management.

Raman spectroscopy is rapidly moving from an experimental technique for the analysis of biological molecules to a tool for the real-time clinical diagnosis and in situ evaluation of the oral tissue in medical and dental research. The purpose of this study is to identify various applications of Raman spectroscopy, to evaluate the contemporary status, and to explore future directions in the field of dentistry. Several in-depth applications are presented to illustrate Raman spectroscopy in early diagnosis of soft tissue abnormalities. Raman spectroscopy allows researchers to analyze histological and biochemical composition of biological tissues. The technique not only demonstrates its role in the disclosure of dysplasia and malignancy, but also in performing guided biopsies, diagnosing sialoliths, and assessment of surgical margins. Raman spectroscopy is used to identify the molecular structures and their components to give substantial information about the chemical structure properties of these molecules. In this article, we acquaint the utilization of Raman spectroscopy in analyzing the soft tissues in relation to dentistry.