A Deep Metric Learning and Multimodal Gated Fusion Framework for AI‐Driven Risk Assessment of Lingual Plate Perforation and Mandibular Canal Injury in Posterior Mandible Implants
Abstract
Objective To provide an automated risk assessment for lingual plate perforation (LPP) and mandibular canal injury (MCI) in dental implants. Also, to reduce interoperator variability in risk classification and eliminate manual measurements during implant planning. Methods A dataset of 896 CBCT‐implant records was used for training our model (DentaRisk‐Net). CBCT images were processed using ResNet‐18 encoders for each implant site view. Patient‐specific metadata was processed through a fully connected network. These modalities were fused using a gated fusion mechanism (GFM). Deep metric learning (DML) was employed to enhance distinguish of risk classes. The model was trained on two risk tasks: bone plate (BP) and mandibular canal (MC) tasks. Classification and regression metrics (accuracy, precision, recall, F 1‐score, R 2 , and ablation studies) were used to evaluate performance. True assessment rate (TAR) was used to assess the model’s agreement with human annotators. Grad‐CAM visualizations were conducted for qualitative evaluation. Results The model achieved an accuracy exceeding 0.87 in detecting risk in implant sites, with precision and recall above 0.84. The GFM increased F 1‐scores by 3%–5% and R 2 by 5%–8% for both risk tasks. The model achieved high performance for the Safe and Risk classes, whereas the Caution class was comparatively lower in BP and MC. TAR ≤1 values demonstrated acceptable alignment with human (BP: r = 0.63; MC: r = 0.72). Grad‐CAM visualizations confirmed the model’s ability for feature localization. Conclusion By integrating imaging and metadata through DML and GFM, the model attempted to reduce interoperator variability in decision‐making and enhance risk‐classified assessment in the treatment planning process.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Dental Radiography and Imaging
Facial Trauma and Fracture Management
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Publication details
- Journal / source
- International Journal of Dentistry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Volume
- 2026
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5599213–5599213
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN