A Deep Learning Approach for Detecting Periapical Lesions on Panoramic Radiographic Images

Abstract

Objective: To assess the performance of a deep learning method for detecting the segmentation of periapical lesions on dental panoramic radiographs. Study Design: Observational study. Place and Duration of the Study: Faculty of Dentistry, Van Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkiye, from March to September 2024. Methodology: The deep learning model, YOLOv5, based on the YOLO algorithm for periapical lesion segmentation, was further developed using 1,500 anonymised panoramic radiographs. The radiographs were obtained from the Radiology Archive at the aforementioned University. For apical lesion segmentation, YOLOv5 with the PyTorch model was utilised. The dataset was divided into training (n = 1,200 radiographs / 2,628 labels), validation (150 radiographs / 325 labels), and test (n = 150 radiographs / 368 labels) sets. The model's effectiveness was measured using the confusion matrix. Sensitivity (recall), precision, and F1 scores provided quantitative assessments of the model's predictive capabilities. Results: The sensitivity, precision, and F1 score performance values of the YOLOv5 deep learning algorithm were 0.682, 0.784, and 0.729, respectively. Conclusion: Periapical lesions on panoramic radiography can be reliably identified using deep learning algorithms. Dental healthcare is being revolutionised by artificial intelligence and deep learning methods, which are advantageous to both the system and practitioners. While the current YOLO-based system yields encouraging findings, additional data should be gathered in future research to improve detection outcomes.