Development of a Computational Tool for the Estimation of Alveolar Bone Loss in Oral Radiographic Images
M. Maithri,
Dhanush G. Ballal,
Santhosh Kumar,
U. Raghavendra,
Anjan Gudigar,
Wai Yee Chan,
Shravya Macherla,
Ravindranath Vineetha,
Pratibha Gopalkrishna,
Edward J. Ciaccio,
U. Rajendra Acharya
Affiliations
M. Maithri
Department of Mechatronics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Dhanush G. Ballal
Department of Mechatronics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Santhosh Kumar
Department of Periodontology, Manipal College of Dental Science, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
U. Raghavendra
Department of Instrumentation & Control Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Anjan Gudigar
Department of Instrumentation & Control Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Wai Yee Chan
Department of Biomedical Imaging, Universiti Malaya Research Imaging Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Shravya Macherla
Department of Periodontology, Manipal College of Dental Science, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Ravindranath Vineetha
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Manipal College of Dental Science, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Pratibha Gopalkrishna
Department of Periodontology, Manipal College of Dental Science, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Edward J. Ciaccio
Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
U. Rajendra Acharya
School of Engineering, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore 599489, Singapore
The present study evaluated a newly developed computational tool (CT) to assess the alveolar bone space and the alveolar crest angle and compares it to dentist assessment (GT). The novel tool consisted of a set of processes initiated with image enhancement, points localization, and angle and area calculations. In total, we analyzed 148 sites in 39 radiographic images, and among these, 42 sites were selected and divided into two groups of non-periodontitis and periodontitis. The alveolar space area (ASA) and alveolar crest angle (ACA) were estimated. The agreement between the computer software and the ground truth was analyzed using the Bland–Altman plot. The sensitivity and specificity of the computer tool were measured using the ROC curve. The Bland–Altman plot showed an agreement between the ground truth and the computational tool in all of the parameters assessed. The ROC curve showed 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for 12.67 mm of the alveolar space area. The maximum percentage of sensitivity and specificity were 80.95% for 13.63 degrees of the alveolar crest angle. Computer tool assessment provides accurate disease severity and treatment monitoring for evaluating the alveolar space area (ASA) and the alveolar crest angle (ACA).
