Dentists are often the first health professionals to see children with arthritis because the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) that enable chewing, speaking and swallowing are usually the first — and sometimes the only — joints affected.
Early diagnosis can help prevent pain, swelling, stiffness, reduced range of motion and even permanent structural damage that can lead to growth problems, facial deformities and dysfunction.
Now, a University of Alberta team is working to improve screening for the disease and make that diagnosis quicker and safer by combining hand-held ultrasound and artificial intelligence.
There are significant downsides to the current methods of diagnosis for pediatric TMJ arthritis: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) uses potentially harmful radiation, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is expensive, time-consuming and may require sedation.
Ultrasound is much safer and cheaper, according to principal investigator Fabiana T. Almeida, an assistant professor of oral and maxillofacial radiology in the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry.
"Ultrasound has no radiation and is portable, but it's not always an easy image to see," Almeida says. "That's why we are incorporating AI — to improve the image itself and its interpretation — so we can bring the technology to clinicians as a chairside screening tool."
Almeida is one of six U of A researchers to receive support from the Alberta Innovates LevMax-Health competition, which awarded a total of $9.9 million to support digital and data-enabled health innovations in the province.
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is the most common rheumatic disease among children, affecting as many as 25,000 Canadians, according to the Arthritis Society of Canada. More than 90 per cent of children with juvenile arthritis have it in their temporomandibular joints.
