Transforming Periodontics With AI

When she joined the University at Buffalo as a clinical assistant professor of periodontics and endodontics in the fall of 2023, Nathalia P. Andrade took notice of the department’s impressive equipment and AI-enabled software.

Andrade had begun studying AI in her residency and wrote a top-cited paper in 2022 about her success using AI in a periodontal procedure. Seeing an opportunity to educate the next generation of dental providers on this pivotal tool, she applied for a $5,000 seed grant from UB to create a new course, “Transforming Periodontal and Dental Care Powered by Artificial Intelligence.”

UB, which is well known for its leadership in developing AI innovations for the public good, granted Andrade the award within a week of her hiring.

In the conversation below, Andrade discusses how AI is both transforming periodontic care and advancing dental education at UB.

I was always passionate about technology of all kinds. I never took a course in using AI, but during my residency, I would sit in front of the computer and figure out how to do it. I saw how it would make periodontic surgery faster and more precise. I started to love using it, and I wanted to teach others how to use it, too.

AI can be used in diagnosis, treatment and maintenance. My work is mainly focused on diagnosis and treatment, such as the procedure to lengthen crowns. With AI, we precisely know where to cut the gum and where to remove the bone behind it. When you go freehand, it’s hard to get the measurements right.

It can highlight the treatments that the patient most likely needs by [analyzing] the X-rays, periodontal chart and the information that’s in the patient’s record.

It can also help diagnose a patient quicker and more accurately. For example, when an X-ray indicates a problem, there are a lot of variables. One clinician can look at the image and say, “There’s 50% bone loss,” while another clinician will say, “No, for me, it looks like 60%.” I think AI is going to help us create a standard that will be the same for everybody.

My main goal is to teach students to use critical thinking while using AI tools. It is a technology in development and can make mistakes. Different kinds of procedures have different kinds of mistakes; we have to explore them so that we teach the machine how to do the procedures properly in the future.

I was very happy with it. I initially planned for 11 periodontic residents, but in the end, about 25 residents from other dental programs, as well as periodontics faculty, came in to observe the class. I can tell that the lessons worked because I see students using AI now. They’re digitally planning the surgical periodontal cases of real patients.