Abstract
Objective
This study aimed to evaluate the usability of morphometric features obtained from mandibular panoramic radiographs in gender determination using machine learning algorithms.
Materials and methods
High-resolution radiographs of 200 patients aged 20–77 (41.0 ± 12.7) were included in the study. Twelve different morphometric measurements were extracted from each digital panoramic radiography included in the study. These measurements were used as features in the machine learning phase in which six different machine learning algorithms were used (k-nearest neighbor, decision trees, support vector machines, naive Bayes, linear discrimination analysis, and neural networks). To evaluate the reliability, we have performed tenfold cross-validation and we repeated this 10 times for every classification process. This process enhances the reliability of the results for other datasets.
Results
When all 12 features are used together, the accuracy rate is found to be 82.6 ± 0.5%. The classification accuracies are also compared using each feature alone. Three features that give the highest accuracy are coronoid height (80.9 ± 0.9%), condyle height (78.2 ± 0.5%), and ramus height (77.2 ± 0.4%), respectively. When compared to the classification algorithms, the highest accuracy was obtained with the naive Bayes algorithm with a rate of 84.0 ± 0.4%.
Conclusion
Machine learning techniques can accurately determine gender by analyzing mandibular morphometric structures from digital panoramic radiographs. The most precise results are achieved by evaluating the structures in combination, using attributes obtained from applying the MRMR algorithm to all features.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available considering that we have not required consents to publish this data, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The present article has been sourced from Hanife Pertek’s Master’s dissertation.
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As per the statement made by the authors, it can be confirmed that there are no conflicting interests that could potentially influence their work or findings. This declaration serves as an assurance of the integrity and objectivity of their research.
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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
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Pertek, H., Kamaşak, M., Kotan, S. et al. Comparison of mandibular morphometric parameters in digital panoramic radiography in gender determination using machine learning. Oral Radiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-024-00751-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-024-00751-9