Online Assessment Platforms: What is on Offer?

Web-based digital assessment platforms offer several benefits for educational providers. The aims of this study were to evaluate digital assessment platforms suitable for design, delivery and quality assurance of assessments in dental education to facilitate informed choices by educational providers. The study was based on an online cross-sectional survey. A questionnaire was designed to include relevant details of providers, types of assessments offered, post-assessment psychometrics, remote proctoring, integration with digital learning platforms faculty training, and indicative costs of services. Following a google search, 25 potential providers of digital assessment software were identified and contacted by email. Ten companies responded to the questionnaire. All providers, except one, reported extensive experience in delivering high-stake assessments for programs in dentistry, medicine and allied health professions. All companies confirmed availability of a wide variety of assessment formats and also offer remote proctoring either directly or through third parties. Indicative costs of different assessment platforms were also provided. This paper underscores the need for dental institutions to make informed decisions when choosing the most appropriate digital assessment platforms to suit their educational needs. It also provides a snapshot of services offered by commercial providers of assessment platforms. The Association for Dental Education in Europe can serve as a central hub to guide dental institutions on making informed choices for suitable assessment platforms to address their needs

ChatGPT-A double-edged sword for healthcare education? Implications for assessments of dental students

Introduction: Open-source generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications are fast-transforming access to information and allow students to prepare assignments and offer quite accurate responses to a wide range of exam questions which are routinely used in assessments of students across the board including undergraduate dental students. This study aims to evaluate the performance of Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), a generative AI-based application, on a wide range of assessments used in contemporary healthcare education and discusses the implications for undergraduate dental education. Materials and Methods: This was an exploratory study investigating the accuracy of ChatGPT to attempt a range of recognised assessments in healthcare education curricula. A total of 50 independent items encompassing 50 different learning outcomes (n = 10 per item) were developed by the research team. These included 10 separate items based on each of the five commonly used question formats including multiple-choice questions (MCQs); short-answer questions (SAQs); short essay questions (SEQs); single true/false questions; and fill in the blanks items. Chat GPT was used to attempt each of these 50 questions. In addition, ChatGPT was used to generate reflective reports based on multisource feedback; research methodology; and critical appraisal of the literature. Results: ChatGPT application provided accurate responses to majority of knowledge-based assessments based on MCQs, SAQs, SEQs, true/false and fill in the blanks items. However, it was only able to answer text-based questions and did not allow processing of questions based on images. Responses generated to written assignments were also satisfactory apart from those for critical appraisal of literature. Word count was the key limitation observed in outputs generated by the free version of ChatGPT. Conclusion: Notwithstanding their current limitations, generative AI-based applications have the potential to revolutionise virtual learning. Instead of treating it as a threat, healthcare educators need to adapt teaching and assessments in medical and dental education to the benefits of the learners while mitigating against dishonest use of AI-based technology

COVID-19 Severity in Patients With Apical Periodontitis: A Case Control Study

Objectives: Apical periodontitis (AP) has been associated with systemic inflammatory biomarkers that have also been associated with COVID-19 severity. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that the presence of apical periodontitis could be associated with increased risk of COVID-19 complications. Methods: A case control study (N = 949) was performed using the medical and dental records of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in the State of Qatar between March 2020 and February 2021. Cases comprised COVID-19 patients (n = 63) who experienced complications (death, intensive care unit admissions, mechanical ventilation), and controls were COVID-19 patients (n = 886) who recovered without such complications. The presence of periapical apical periodontitis was assessed on the radiographic records taken prior to COVID-19 infection. Associations between apical periodontitis and COVID 19 complications were analysed using logistic regression models adjusted for demographic and medical factors. Blood biomarkers were assessed in both groups and compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: COVID-19 complications were found to be associated with the presence of apical periodontitis (adjusted odds ratio = 2.72; 95% CI, 1.30-5.68; P = .008). Blood analyses revealed that COVID-19 patients with apical periodontitis had higher levels of white blood cells and haemoglobin A1c than the patients without apical periodontitis. Conclusions: The presence of apical periodontitis could be associated with increased risk of COVID-19 complications.The authors acknowledge the support of the Business Intelligence Unit of Hamad Medical Corporation, especially Anvar Hassan and Chris Choda. We also acknowledge the support of Hamad Dental Center, Qatar University College of Dental Medicine, and McGill University Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences.Scopu

Detection of Periapical Lesions on Panoramic Radiographs Using Deep Learning

Dentists could fail to notice periapical lesions (PLs) while examining panoramic radiographs. Accordingly, this study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) designed to address this problem. Materials and methods: a total of 18618 periapical root areas (PRA) on 713 panoramic radiographs were annotated and classified as having or not having PLs. An AI model consisting of two convolutional neural networks (CNNs), a detector and a classifier, was trained on the images. The detector localized PRAs using a bounding-box-based object detection model, while the classifier classified the extracted PRAs as PL or not-PL using a fine-tuned CNN. The classifier was trained and validated on a balanced subset of the original dataset that included 3249 PRAs, and tested on 707 PRAs. Results: the detector achieved an average precision of 74.95%, while the classifier accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were 84%, 81% and 86%, respectively. When integrating both detection and classification models, the proposed method accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 84.6%, 72.2%, and 85.6%, respectively. Conclusion: a two-stage CNN model consisting of a detector and a classifier can successfully detect periapical lesions on panoramic radiographs

Detection of Periapical Lesions on Panoramic Radiographs Using Deep Learning

Dentists could fail to notice periapical lesions (PLs) while examining panoramic radiographs. Accordingly, this study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) designed to address this problem. Materials and methods: a total of 18618 periapical root areas (PRA) on 713 panoramic radiographs were annotated and classified as having or not having PLs. An AI model consisting of two convolutional neural networks (CNNs), a detector and a classifier, was trained on the images. The detector localized PRAs using a bounding-box-based object detection model, while the classifier classified the extracted PRAs as PL or not-PL using a fine-tuned CNN. The classifier was trained and validated on a balanced subset of the original dataset that included 3249 PRAs, and tested on 707 PRAs. Results: the detector achieved an average precision of 74.95%, while the classifier accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were 84%, 81% and 86%, respectively. When integrating both detection and classification models, the proposed method accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 84.6%, 72.2%, and 85.6%, respectively. Conclusion: a two-stage CNN model consisting of a detector and a classifier can successfully detect periapical lesions on panoramic radiographs

Association of periodontal therapy, with inflammatory biomarkers and complications in COVID-19 patients: a case control study

Background: In previous studies, COVID-19 complications were reported to be associated with periodontitis. Accordingly, this study was designed to test the hypothesis that a history of periodontal therapy could be associated with lower risk of COVID-19 complications. Methods: A case–control study was performed using the medical health records of COVID-19 patients in the State of Qatar between March 2020 and February 2021 and dental records between January 2017 and December 2021. Cases were defined as COVID-19 patients who suffered complications (death, ICU admissions and/or mechanical ventilation); controls were COVID-19 patients who recovered without major complications. Associations between a history of periodontal therapy and COVID-19 complications were analysed using logistic regression models adjusted for demographic and medical factors. Blood parameters were compared using Kruskal–Wallis test. Results: In total, 1,325 patients were included. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) analysis revealed that non-treated periodontitis was associated with significant risk of need for mechanical ventilation (AOR = 3.91, 95% CI 1.21–12.57, p = 0.022) compared to periodontally healthy patients, while treated periodontitis was not (AOR = 1.28, 95% CI 0.25–6.58, p = 0.768). Blood analyses revealed that periodontitis patients with a history of periodontal therapy had significantly lower levels of D-dimer and Ferritin than non-treated periodontitis patients. Conclusion: Among COVID-19 patients with periodontal bone loss, only those that have not received periodontal therapy had higher risk of need for assisted ventilation. COVID-19 patients with a history of periodontal therapy were associated with significantly lower D-dimer levels than those without recent records of periodontal therapy. Clinical relevance: The fact that patients with treated periodontitis were less likely to suffer COVID-19 complications than non-treated ones further strengthen the hypothesis linking periodontitis to COVID-19 complications and suggests that managing periodontitis could help reduce the risk for COVID-19 complications, although future research is needed to verify this.Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library. The authors acknowledge financial support from Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) Rapid Response Cycle 2 Grant (RRC02-0810–210032)

Association of periodontal therapy, with inflammatory biomarkers and complications in COVID-19 patients: a case control study

Background In previous studies, COVID-19 complications were reported to be associated with periodontitis. Accordingly, this study was designed to test the hypothesis that a history of periodontal therapy could be associated with lower risk of COVID-19 complications. Methods A case–control study was performed using the medical health records of COVID-19 patients in the State of Qatar between March 2020 and February 2021 and dental records between January 2017 and December 2021. Cases were defined as COVID-19 patients who suffered complications (death, ICU admissions and/or mechanical ventilation); controls were COVID-19 patients who recovered without major complications. Associations between a history of periodontal therapy and COVID-19 complications were analysed using logistic regression models adjusted for demographic and medical factors. Blood parameters were compared using Kruskal–Wallis test. Results In total, 1,325 patients were included. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) analysis revealed that non-treated periodontitis was associated with significant risk of need for mechanical ventilation (AOR = 3.91, 95% CI 1.21–12.57, p = 0.022) compared to periodontally healthy patients, while treated periodontitis was not (AOR = 1.28, 95% CI 0.25–6.58, p = 0.768). Blood analyses revealed that periodontitis patients with a history of periodontal therapy had significantly lower levels of D-dimer and Ferritin than non-treated periodontitis patients. Conclusion Among COVID-19 patients with periodontal bone loss, only those that have not received periodontal therapy had higher risk of need for assisted ventilation. COVID-19 patients with a history of periodontal therapy were associated with significantly lower D-dimer levels than those without recent records of periodontal therapy. Clinical relevance The fact that patients with treated periodontitis were less likely to suffer COVID-19 complications than non-treated ones further strengthen the hypothesis linking periodontitis to COVID-19 complications and suggests that managing periodontitis could help reduce the risk for COVID-19 complications, although future research is needed to verify this. Other Information Published in: Clinical Oral Investigations License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0See article on publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00784-022-04631-6</p