ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — As kids get ready to stock up on Halloween candy, it’s also the time to talk about cavities. An app currently in development locally aims to help families get ahead of potential dental problems and improve overall childhood oral health.
“Currently, there are no apps or devices that can detect cavities.”
That is, until now…
Dr. Nisreen Al-Jarad is an assistant professor in the URMC Eastman Oral Health Institute. She is currently developing a new app at her facility that uses artificial intelligence to detect tooth decay in its early stages.
“Tooth decay is one of the most common childhood diseases, and while children may not talk about the pain when they have a cavity, it can interfere with their ability to eat, sleep, study, and perform daily activities.” says Dr. Al Jarad.
“If we can give parents and caregivers tools and show them the first stages of tooth decay, we can prevent tooth decay and close the door on tooth decay and pain in babies,” she added. Ta.
The app is called “SMARTeeth” and here’s how it works: When a parent or caregiver takes a photo of a child’s teeth, it detects signs of tooth decay through AI technology.
how? Dr. Jiebo Luo is a professor of computer science who has been working on creating and developing apps for many years. He says the first step is to have dental professionals annotate images of teeth containing various stages and forms of caries.
“We take annotated data and train an artificial intelligence model, specifically a deep neural network. And after training, the network can detect cavities with almost the same accuracy as a trained dentist. ” said Dr. Luo.
The goal is also to close the gap in dental access. This year, the institute won a grant from the National Science Foundation to expand its efforts beyond the app itself.
“Our goal is to use community centers and local health workers to help install the app, train parents on how to use the app, and provide a smart way to access additional tests such as X-rays. “Our goal is to create a connected oral health community. Ultimately, we want to connect families and dental care providers in a network that fundamentally transforms today’s dental care,” says Dr. Luo.
SMARTeeth is not yet available for free download. It is still in the pilot testing stage, and security aspects are still being finalized.