Artificial Intelligence Is Redefining Restorative Dentistry: From Faster Diagnosis to Personalized Dental Care
How AI is transforming caries detection, treatment planning, and the future of dental practice
A New Era for Restorative Dentistry
Restorative dentistry has always relied heavily on clinical experience, visual interpretation, and manual precision. However, these traditional approaches often face challenges such as diagnostic variability, time constraints, and limited consistency across practitioners.
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising solution—offering data-driven, precise, and efficient support for dental professionals. A comprehensive review published in BMC Oral Health (2025) explores how AI is reshaping restorative dentistry and what lies ahead for this rapidly evolving field.
Why AI Matters in Dental Care
AI systems, particularly machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models, excel at recognizing patterns in large datasets—something that can be difficult for the human eye alone. In dentistry, this capability is especially valuable for analyzing radiographs, detecting early-stage lesions, and assisting with complex treatment decisions.
The review highlights that AI is not designed to replace clinicians, but to enhance clinical accuracy, efficiency, and consistency, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
What Did the Researchers Do?
The authors conducted a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines, analyzing 63 peer-reviewed studies published between 2020 and January 2025. The selected studies focused on AI applications relevant to restorative dentistry, with particular attention to diagnostic accuracy and clinical relevance.
Key application areas included:
Caries detection
Endodontics
Dental restorations
Pedodontics
Tooth surface loss
Tooth shade determination
This structured approach allowed the researchers to map current trends, assess performance, and identify gaps in existing research.
Key Findings: Where AI Performs Best
Across multiple studies, AI demonstrated impressive diagnostic accuracy, especially in image-based tasks:
Caries detection using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) reached accuracy levels of up to 95%
Tooth detection and numbering achieved accuracy as high as 98.67%
Segmentation of teeth, restorations, and lesions showed consistently high performance across panoramic and CBCT images
These findings suggest that AI can significantly support early diagnosis, reduce chair time, and improve treatment planning—particularly in busy clinical settings.
Beyond Diagnosis: AI as a Clinical Assistant
The review also highlights AI’s expanding role beyond diagnostics. AI-powered systems are increasingly used for:
Predicting tooth prognosis
Assisting treatment planning
Streamlining administrative workflows
Supporting patient education through virtual assistants
Emerging technologies, such as AI-driven robotic systems and multimodal data integration, are opening new possibilities for precision-driven and patient-centered dental care.
Challenges That Still Need Attention
Despite its potential, AI adoption in dentistry is not without challenges. The authors emphasize several key concerns:
Data privacy and ethical issues
Algorithmic bias due to non-representative datasets
Limited interpretability of AI decision-making
Lack of standardized training for dental professionals
Addressing these issues will be essential to ensure safe, equitable, and effective integration of AI into daily dental practice.
What This Means for the Future of Dentistry
This review makes it clear that AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it is already influencing how restorative dentistry is practiced today. With proper validation, standardization, and clinician training, AI has the potential to become a reliable partner in delivering more accurate, efficient, and personalized dental care.
Future research is expected to focus on long-term clinical outcomes, integration with technologies such as 3D printing, and the development of AI education programs for dental professionals.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is transforming restorative dentistry by bridging the gap between clinical expertise and data-driven precision. While challenges remain, the growing body of evidence suggests that AI—when used responsibly—can elevate the quality of dental care and reshape the future of the profession.
Original Article Reference
Najeeb M, Islam S.
Artificial intelligence (AI) in restorative dentistry: current trends and future prospects.
BMC Oral Health. 2025;25:592.
DOI: 10.1186/s12903-025-05989-1