Promaton
Revolutionising Dental Image Analysis with AI

Over the course of time, dentistry and dental care have evolved from a primitive form of medicine used in ancient Egypt to modern-day preventative treatment and state-of-the-art diagnostics. Today, with the overall healthcare sector moving toward an increasingly tech-driven ecosystem, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are being leveraged in the field of dentistry to imbue efficiency into cumbersome tasks. For instance, recent studies show that even today, the misdiagnosis of dental caries or bone loss around teeth (periodontitis) from x-rays performed by the most well-trained dentists maybe 20 percent or higher. And, with an AI system that can effectively analyse vast numbers of diagnostic images and aid dentists in recognizing the probable areas of concern for a patient, the percentage of diagnostic errors on x-rays can be markedly reduced. However, due to the extensive resources and regulatory certifications required to introduce an AI-powered system into the dental industry, dentists are struggling to employ solutions that can improve their x-ray analysis performance.

Enter Promaton, a Netherlands-based medical devices company that offers AI-powered software solutions to aid professionals in the dental industry to effectively automate their diagnostic operations and 3D treatment workflows such as those for orthodontic treatment and guided implantology planning. “Our advanced algorithms are developed in-house and tested clinically in collaboration with leading medical universities to provide dentists with the ability to aid the diagnostics of dental imaging and to automate the non-clinical parts of 3D treatment workflow planning” says Dr. David Anssari Moin, Co-Founder, Co-CEO of Promaton.

Promaton has developed two sets of advanced algorithms designed to automate image analysis and virtual treatment simulations. Firstly, with its 2D algorithms, the company enhances the accuracy of x-ray image analysis for dentists, minimizing costs and saving time by automating the documentation and filing process.

Besides, Promaton’s 3D algorithms enable dentists to automate the complicated data processing, segmentation, and 3D modeling specification steps in the creation of a virtual treatment simulation system. “Our 3D algorithms reduces the development time for three-dimensional treatment simulations from 30-45 minutes to five,” states Dr. Moin. Furthermore, with Promaton’s algorithms, dentists gain the ability to automate the classification of anatomical structures in 2D and 3D image data, alongside data alignment and reporting processes.

To highlight the efficacy of its offerings, Promaton is currently collaborating with a large dental radiology clinics to aid them in reducing analysis-labour time and optimize treatment per diagnostic image analysis. Dental radiology clinics do produce thousands of x-rays everyday and operates on a non-standardized-workflow. Promaton’s mission with these alliances is to employ its algorithms and eliminate the hours required to manually analyse and report the findings of each x-ray, and drastically reduce the misdiagnosis and the costs involved in the overall process. “Even if we automate 50 percent of the writing and reporting of the image analysis, dental radiology clinics could already gain very significant quality improvements and time savings,” explains dr. Moin.

Apart from the technical challenges, the integration of AI into the field of dentistry involves the mitigation of additional challenges like compliance with GDPR’s data privacy regulations and overly convoluted certification process involved in marketing an AI-based dental imaging analysis system. To overcome these hurdles, Promaton has focused on compliance and certification from the start, (the company is certified as a medical device manufacturer) and is collaborating with industry-leading dental equipment manufaturers to explore and demonstrate the feasibility of AI solutions in this area of medicine. “We cooperate with influential businesses and develop innovative business models to help the dental community gain an understanding of the value propositions of a smart diagnostic image analyser,” adds Dr. Moin.

Looking ahead, Promaton aims to expand its focus from strictly European markets to countries in Latin America and the U.S. From an organisational standpoint, the company’s goal is to become the premier B2B licensing partner for the existing players in the dental sector and integrate its algorithms with clients’ software packages. Promaton is also pursuing IP protection for its clinically-tested, proprietary algorithms to safeguard the offerings from fraud and abuse. “We are continually striving to enhance the superhuman accuracy of our algorithms and transform it into the best diagnostic image analysis solution in the marketplace,” concludes Dr. Moin.