Artificial Intelligence in Dental Diagnostics and Treatment Planning: General Principles, Current State, and Future Perspectives

For the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has attracted increasing attention in nearly all areas of society. In healthcare, including dentistry, AI is often presented as a transformative technology, although clinical integration is still in the early stages. This review introduces key AI concepts for clinicians without a technical background. Clinical applications of AI in dentistry are briefly summarized; however, due to the extensive body of literature on dental AI and the wide range of clinical tasks in dentistry, an exhaustive and systematic review falls beyond the scope of this paper. Next, a concise yet critical assessment is provided of the current state of dental AI research, highlighting limitations and uncertainties towards clinical implementation. Finally, a tentative road forward is sketched by highlighting a few future perspectives towards the responsible use of AI in clinical practice.