Applications and performance of artificial intelligence in dentistry and dental materials: a scoping review.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Background/purpose: Artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced rapid expansion in biomedical sciences, with increasing integration into dental practice and dental materials research. This scoping review aimed to provide a concise and structured overview of recent advances in AI and to identify the techniques employed in dentistry and dental materials science to enhance diagnosis, accuracy, detection, and clinical decision-making.
Materials and methods: A comprehensive electronic search was conducted in ScienceDirect, PubMed/MEDLINE, and Scopus for studies published between 2020 and 2025. Original research articles investigating AI applications in various dental specialties and dental materials science were screened according to predefined inclusion criteria. Thirty studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Data were extracted and synthesized based on study characteristics, AI techniques used, assessment methods, reported outcomes, and methodological quality.
Results: AI technologies have been widely implemented across multiple dental specialties, including restorative dentistry, prosthodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, implantology, periodontology, and dental materials science. Deep learning models-particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs)— were the most frequently applied techniques. Across studies, AI systems demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy, improved detection sensitivity, enhanced workflow efficiency, and promising predictive performance in treatment planning and biomaterial optimization.
Conclusion: Artificial intelligence represents a transformative advancement in dentistry. Current evidence indicates that AI-based systems significantly improve diagnostic precision and support clinical decision-making. However, despite their high performance, AI technologies remain complementary tools and cannot fully replace human expertise. Continued development, validation, and responsible clinical integration are essential for their future implementation in patient-centered dental care.
Downloads
Citations
Supporting Agencies
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.How to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
