Research Article

AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR PERIAPICAL LESIONS WITH THE TOOTHNET CNN ARCHITECTURE INTEGRATING THE PROPOSED HYBRID ACTIVATION FUNCTION ON CBCT SCANS

Volume: 29 Number: 1 March 3, 2026
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AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR PERIAPICAL LESIONS WITH THE TOOTHNET CNN ARCHITECTURE INTEGRATING THE PROPOSED HYBRID ACTIVATION FUNCTION ON CBCT SCANS

Abstract

Imaging techniques are widely used in dentistry to understand the 3D structure of teeth and detect diseases, but their interpretation is time-consuming and prone to error. To address this, decision support systems are increasingly utilized. This study proposes a CNN-based classification model using the UFPE dataset, which includes Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) scans. In the first scenario, both real and enhanced images were input into a CNN, yielding 68.92% accuracy for enhanced images. Due to a result, enhanced images were used in all other scenarios. In the second scenario, a newly designed CNN architecture called ToothNet, incorporating a custom activation function, was tested. It achieved 69.92% accuracy, 61.45% recall, 62.67% precision, and 68.68% F1-score, showing a 1.45% increase in accuracy. To evaluate generalizability, three more classification scenarios were examined using the same dataset. ToothNet achieved 80.14% accuracy in the “healthy vs. large lesion” and 68.73% in the “healthy vs. small lesion” classification. These results indicate that the proposed architecture not only improves accuracy but is also generalizable across different lesion sizes.

Keywords

Thanks

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of ChatGPT -3.5 and ChatGBT-4o-mini language models for its contributions to this study. The tool provided valuable support in writing some code parts, providing different perspectives, analyzing mathematical equations, identifying and addressing coding errors with ease, and ensuring accurate and clear translations. The authors have reviewed and edited the output and take full responsibility for the content of this publication.

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Image Processing , Pattern Recognition , Deep Learning , Neural Networks , Artificial Intelligence (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

March 3, 2026

Submission Date

August 8, 2025

Acceptance Date

November 28, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 29 Number: 1

APA
Akalın, F., & Özkan, Y. (2026). AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR PERIAPICAL LESIONS WITH THE TOOTHNET CNN ARCHITECTURE INTEGRATING THE PROPOSED HYBRID ACTIVATION FUNCTION ON CBCT SCANS. Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi Mühendislik Bilimleri Dergisi, 29(1), 75-93. https://doi.org/10.17780/ksujes.1760369