Assessing the spatial relationship between mandibular third molars and the inferior alveolar canal using a deep learning-based approach: a proof-of-concept study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The distance between the mandibular third molar (M3) and the mandibular canal (MC) is a key factor in assessing the risk of injury to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN). However, existing deep learning systems have not yet been able to accurately quantify the M3-MC distance in 3D space. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a deep learning-based system for accurate measurement of M3-MC spatial relationships in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images and to evaluate its accuracy against conventional methods.

Materials and methods

We propose an innovative approach for low-resource environments, using DeeplabV3 + for semantic segmentation of CBCT-extracted 2D images, followed by multi-category 3D reconstruction and visualization. Based on the reconstru

SUBMITTER: Lyu W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12330182 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature