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Updated: Jun 16, 2026
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Mimicking and Measuring Occlusal Erosive Tooth Wear with the "Rub&Roll" and Non-contact Profilometry
Published on: February 2, 2018
Digital and artificial intelligence-based screening for erosive tooth wear.
S O'Toole1, Mdn Gerhardt2, M Kuralt2
1Centre for Clinical, Oral and Translational Sciences, King's College London, SE1 9RT, United Kingdom.
Journal of Dentistry
|June 13, 2026
Summary
Artificial Intelligence (AI) shows perfect repeatability for assessing Erosive Tooth Wear (ETW) using digital scans, improving diagnosis and monitoring. This AI approach offers a reliable tool for detecting tooth wear and dentine exposure.
Area of Science:
- Dentistry
- Digital Health
- Artificial Intelligence
Background:
- Accurate detection of Erosive Tooth Wear (ETW) is crucial for timely intervention.
- The Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) has limited reproducibility in clinical settings.
- Digital intraoral scans and AI offer potential for enhanced sensitivity and reliability in ETW assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and repeatability of AI-driven assessments of ETW using digital intraoral scans.
- To compare AI and clinical assessments of BEWE scores and dentine exposure.
- To determine the intra-examiner and inter-examiner reliability of digital scan assessments.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 61 adults with varying degrees of ETW.
- Intraoral scans were taken after clinical examination (BEWE and dentine exposure).
- AI and human examiners independently assessed scans for BEWE and dentine exposure, with repeatability assessments.
Main Results:
- On-scan assessments showed higher BEWE scores than clinical exams (37% vs 22.3%).
- AI demonstrated perfect repeatability (ICC=1.00) for ETW assessment, outperforming human examiners (ICC=0.49-0.78).
- AI achieved high sensitivity and specificity for dentine exposure detection (0.82/0.90).
Conclusions:
- AI-derived assessments of ETW exhibit perfect repeatability and comparable accuracy to clinical methods.
- Digital scans and AI tools show promise for earlier ETW diagnosis and improved patient monitoring.
- AI enhances the assessment of dentine exposure, offering a valuable adjunct in dental diagnostics.
