Adnan Black
Project: Predicting osteoporosis risk in postmenopausal women through artificial intelligence interpretation of dental imaging
“The most impactful piece of advice my supervisors have given me is to say yes to as many research opportunities as possible, from applying for studentships, to presenting posters, to travelling to conferences. It has opened numerous doors throughout my time in the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry. Each time, I was lucky to learn new technical skills or meet incredible people.”
Summary: This research project aims to use artificial intelligence interpretation of 3D dental imaging to improve early detection of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Osteoporosis is a bone remodeling disorder that weakens bones, reducing bone mineral density and increasing the likelihood of fractures. As a result of hormonal changes that accelerate bone loss, postmenopausal women are disproportionately impacted by osteoporosis. Early diagnosis allows for timely clinical intervention that can drastically improve patients’ quality of life.
Currently, the clinical method used to assess bone mineral density is dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). However, DXA scanning is problematic in that it is inaccurate across women with different body types and is typically ordered only for older women with significant risk factors. As a result, there is a distinct need to develop opportunistic screening strategies.
As part of regular dental care, many patients routinely undergo 3D dental imaging. This X-Ray modality captures images of the jawbone, displaying alterations in jawbone quality that can be correlated to overall bone mineral density changes. This study aims to train an artificial intelligence model to recognize these jawbone changes by analyzing differences between imaging of 50 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and 50 control patients. The model’s accuracy will be validated by testing its ability to identify postmenopausal osteoporotic patients from a new set of images.
This research addresses a critical aspect of women’s health. With 70 per cent of women attending the dentist annually, dental imaging serves as an opportunistic screening tool that can improve osteoporosis early detection, bone health and quality of life.
Adnan Black was supervised by Dr. Nazila Ameli and Dr. Fabiana Almeida in the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry at the University of Alberta, and his WCHRI summer studentship was funded by the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation. He is enrolled in the U of A’s doctor of dental surgery program.
Read more about WCHRI’s training awards for students at all levels and generous grants for researchers. See the rest of the 2026 summer studentship recipients here.
