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Dental imaging consists of a specific part of biomedical imaging that shares many of its properties but presents several particularities, as well. Intraoral bi-dimensional radiographs compose an essential part of dental imaging. They can be divided into periapical, bitewing, and occlusal projections. Another widely used dental image is the panoramic exam, which is based on an extraoral technique and produces a single tomographic image of the facial structures, including teeth, mandibles, and adjacent structures. Considering three-dimensional data, the cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is another popular exam in dental practice. The use of computational techniques to assist dental exams’ evaluation for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of dental diseases has increased since the advent of digital oral radiology. However, the popularity of these techniques in dental imaging is not so high when compared with other medical areas due to several factors as (a) the lack of access to data, since few substantial dental datasets are available; (b) the subjectivity of diagnoses made by dental specialists, which disfavors the reproducibility of methods; (c) resistance from dentists to incorporate computational methods in their clinical routine; and (d) the difficulty to describe the wide range of possibilities for dental anomalies automatically. Furthermore, there are specific limitations related to the knowledge of oral radiological images. For instance, bitewing radiographs present a low sensitivity for proximal and occlusal surfaces, generally having a poor performance for detecting non-cavitated lesions. Nevertheless, there are several works on image processing aimed at identification, classification, segmentation, and prediction of lesions based on oral radiographs. Recently, the use of artificial intelligence techniques as a complement to more traditional imaging has been increased in several sub-areas of dentistry, such as cariology, endodontics, periodontology, orthodontics, and forensic dentistry. This chapter will initially describe the most commonly used exams in dental imaging. Afterward, it will include a discussion about works that combine image processing and artificial intelligence on oral radiography applications. |
