A Faster Way to Detect Dental Problems

Discussions ran continuously for five months. Between classes, practicals, and academic assignments, six students from the Faculty of Dentistry (FKG) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS) rallied around one shared idea: making dental and oral health screening more accessible to everyone, especially people in rural areas far from dental clinics.

That concern led the team to develop DentAware, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based prototype capable of screening dental and oral health conditions through intraoral photographs.

DentAware brought Aryabima Aulia Nuswantoro, Hasna Faiha Tazkiya, Octavia Ferdina Faradilla Ramadhani, Raihan Priyanto, Ridha Naura Triviana, and Taqifah Rusydiah Rauhah a silver medal in the Innovation Science category at the Youth International Science Fair (YISF) 2026. The competition, which drew participants from 16 countries, was organized by The Indonesian Young Scientist Association (IYSA) in collaboration with Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, held from April 6 to 9, 2026.

Faculty of Dentistry DentAware. UMS PR/Azhar Muzaqqi

Team leader Aryabima explained that despite the competition being held online, the competitive atmosphere was still intense. "Our innovation falls under the Innovation Science category. Because it is an international competition, the participants come from universities and countries all over the world," he said while recounting the team's experience, Thursday (26/5/2026).

DentAware was built from a problem the team had witnessed firsthand: the persistently low level of public awareness about dental and oral health, particularly in rural areas where health facilities remain limited.

Aryabima explained clearly that the idea for the application emerged when the team was discussing the inequality in dental healthcare access across Indonesia. Many people in remote areas struggle to reach a dentist or an oral health clinic.

"We want to help people in rural areas where health facilities are still lacking. They actually want to maintain their dental health, but access and awareness are sometimes still minimal," Aryabima said.

The team then found data that reinforced their concern. Based on figures they gathered, around 57 percent of Indonesians experience dental and oral health problems, yet only around 11.2 percent seek treatment or are even aware that their dental condition requires further attention.

That gap in the field data is exactly what the team set out to address. With DentAware, users simply photograph their teeth using their phone camera or upload an image from their gallery.

Octavia, the team member responsible for prototype production, explained that once the teeth are captured by the camera, the AI system analyzes the dental condition to detect plaque and early signs of cavities. The technology the team used is a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which is capable of reading visual patterns including the color and texture of tooth surfaces.

"So users just scan their teeth. The system will detect whether there is plaque, cavities, or other issues," Octavia said.

DentAware does not stop at initial detection. It offers five integrated core features.

The first is Dental Scan, as described above, for scanning the condition of the teeth. The second is Plaque Detection, which visually marks areas of plaque while classifying the level of risk as low, moderate, or high.

DentAware prototype created by Aryabima Aulia Nuswantoro and his five team members.

The third is Caries Detection, which identifies early signs of tooth decay based on discoloration or the appearance of cavities. Once the screening is complete, the application provides follow-up recommendations.

This is where the team feels their innovation sets itself apart from other existing detection systems. "We identified a gap that most systems only detect. DentAware also provides guidance on what the user should do after the detection results come out," Octavia explained.

The fourth feature is called Nearest Clinic. The system recommends the closest clinic or dentist based on the user's location, complete with distance information and navigation.

The fifth feature is Oral Care Reminder, a periodic reminder to help users maintain their dental and oral care routine.

Octavia explained that the development process needed quite some time. The team started to gather in early November 2025, using the semester break to build out the concept and divide responsibilities among members.

Aryabima, Raihan, and Octavia focused on developing the application prototype, while Hasna and Ridha were responsible for writing the scientific paper and strengthening the research foundation through various academic journals.

"We divided the work because time was tight and we still had classes to attend. So the prototype team focused on developing the features, while the paper team looked for theoretical backing and research gaps," Octavia added.

Behind that process, the team also received intensive mentoring from drg. Morita Sari, M.P.H., Ph.D., their supervising lecturer. Every development in the prototype was evaluated before being presented in the competition.

"She always gave us feedback and direction. So every time there was progress, we would consult drg. Morita first," Octavia said.

Despite having won an international award, Ridha, a member of the paper team, acknowledged that DentAware still has a number of limitations. One of the biggest challenges is the varying quality of photos submitted by users, depending on the camera of the phone being used.

"Some phones produce very clear results, others not so much. That affects how the AI reads the image," Ridha said.

On top of that, the varying conditions of patients' teeth also present their own challenges. In children with mixed dentition, for example, the AI system sometimes still struggles to distinguish between normal and abnormal tooth structures.

Aryabima and the team do plan to continue developing DentAware. The prototype will be refined into a more mature application ready for broader public use.

"We want to improve the AI system and its visual data processing. The AI also needs more training to deliver more accurate detection with fewer errors," Aryabima said.

Once DentAware is fully developed as an application, the next step is to bring it directly to communities. One plan under consideration is conducting outreach to remote villages through partnerships with village officials and volunteer health communities.

"We want people to become more aware of their dental and oral health. Because many of them are not indifferent, they just do not yet know how important it is to take care of their teeth," Aryabima concluded.

For the team, DentAware is more than just a competition project or an academic prototype. It is their small contribution toward bridging the gap in dental healthcare access across Indonesia.

Writer: Genis Dwi Gustati

Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid

Editor: Al Habiib Josy Asheva

Designer: Muhammad Nur Haqqi