Hybrid CNN-Transformer Model for Accurate Impacted Tooth Detection in Panoramic Radiographs

<b>Background/Objectives:</b> The integration of digital imaging technologies in dentistry has revolutionized diagnostic and treatment practices, with panoramic radiographs playing a crucial role in detecting impacted teeth. Manual interpretation of these images is time consuming and error prone, highlighting the need for automated, accurate solutions. This study proposes an artificial intelligence (AI)-based model for detecting impacted teeth in panoramic radiographs, aiming to enhance accuracy and reliability. <b>Methods:</b> The proposed model combines YOLO (You Only Look Once) and RT-DETR (Real-Time Detection Transformer) models to leverage their strengths in real-time object detection and learning long-range dependencies, respectively. The integration is further optimized with the Weighted Boxes Fusion (WBF) algorithm, where WBF parameters are tuned using Bayesian optimization. A dataset of 407 labeled panoramic radiographs was used to evaluate the model's performance. <b>Results:</b> The model achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 98.3% and an F1 score of 96%, significantly outperforming individual models and other combinations. The results were expressed through key performance metrics, such as mAP and F1 scores, which highlight the model's balance between precision and recall. Visual and numerical analyses demonstrated superior performance, with enhanced sensitivity and minimized false positive rates. <b>Conclusions:</b> This study presents a scalable and reliable AI-based solution for detecting impacted teeth in panoramic radiographs, offering substantial improvements in diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. The proposed model has potential for widespread application in clinical dentistry, reducing manual workload and error rates. Future research will focus on expanding the dataset and further refining the model's generalizability.