# DentVLM: A Multimodal Vision-Language Model for Comprehensive Dental Diagnosis and Enhanced Clinical Practice

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23344 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.23344/

## Key facts

- Cited by 14 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Medical vision-language models, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models.
- Builds on 28 of its 66 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 Sep 2025.

## Placed in

- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [Medical vision-language models](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/medical-vision-language-models/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 28 of 28)

- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21783/) (2024)
- [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09685/) (2021)
- [Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08485/) (2023)
- [DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12948/) (2025)
- [Efficient Memory Management for Large Language Model Serving with PagedAttention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06180/) (2023)
- [Qwen2.5-VL Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.13923/) (2025)
- [GPT-4o System Card](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.21276/) (2024)
- [Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12191/) (2024)
- [Sigmoid Loss for Language Image Pre-Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.15343/) (2023)
- [LLaVA-OneVision: Easy Visual Task Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.03326/) (2024)
- [Qwen2 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10671/) (2024)
- [Large Language Models Encode Clinical Knowledge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.13138/) (2022)
- [Gemma 3 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.19786/) (2025)
- [Expanding Performance Boundaries of Open-Source Multimodal Models with Model, Data, and Test-Time Scaling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05271/) (2024)
- [LlamaFactory: Unified Efficient Fine-Tuning of 100+ Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.13372/) (2024)
- [LLaVA-Med: Training a Large Language-and-Vision Assistant for Biomedicine in One Day](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00890/) (2023)
- [DeepSeek-VL2: Mixture-of-Experts Vision-Language Models for Advanced Multimodal Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.10302/) (2024)
- [Patch n' Pack: NaViT, a Vision Transformer for any Aspect Ratio and Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.06304/) (2023)
- [HuatuoGPT-Vision, Towards Injecting Medical Visual Knowledge into Multimodal LLMs at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19280/) (2024)
- [ChatGPT for Shaping the Future of Dentistry: The Potential of Multi-Modal Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03086/) (2023)
- [Two-Stage Mesh Deep Learning for Automated Tooth Segmentation and Landmark Localization on 3D Intraoral Scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11941/) (2021)
- [A fully automated method for 3D individual tooth identification and segmentation in dental CBCT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.06060/) (2021)
- [DArch: Dental Arch Prior-assisted 3D Tooth Instance Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11911/) (2022)
- [Diffusion-Based Hierarchical Multi-Label Object Detection to Analyze Panoramic Dental X-rays](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.06500/) (2023)
- [Pose-Aware Instance Segmentation Framework from Cone Beam CT Images for Tooth Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.02143/) (2020)
- [TSegFormer: 3D Tooth Segmentation in Intraoral Scans with Geometry Guided Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.13234/) (2023)
- [Towards Better Cephalometric Landmark Detection with Diffusion Data Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06055/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [OralGPT-Omni: A Versatile Dental Multimodal Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.22055/) (2025)
- [DentalGPT: Incentivizing Multimodal Complex Reasoning in Dentistry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.11558/) (2025)
- [OralGPT-Plus: Learning to Use Visual Tools via Reinforcement Learning for Panoramic X-ray Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.06366/) (2026)
- [MM-NeuroOnco: A Multimodal Benchmark and Instruction Dataset for MRI-Based Brain Tumor Diagnosis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.22955/) (2026)
- [OralAgent: Integrating Reasoning, Tools, and Knowledge for Interactive Dental Image Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.27378/) (2026)
- [ArchMap: Arch-Flattening and Knowledge-Guided Vision Language Model for Tooth Counting and Structured Dental Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.14336/) (2025)
- [The Path to Self-Evolving Clinical Systems: Scaling Medical Agents from Assistance to Autonomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.11175/) (2026)
- [RedOne 2.0: Rethinking Domain-specific LLM Post-Training in Social Networking Services](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.07070/) (2025)
- [IOSVLM: A 3D Vision-Language Model for Unified Dental Diagnosis from Intraoral Scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.16781/) (2026)
- [Prompt-Based Caption Generation for Single-Tooth Dental Images Using Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.07403/) (2026)
- [Dental-TriageBench: Benchmarking Multimodal Reasoning for Hierarchical Dental Triage](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.13060/) (2026)
- [GlobalDentBench: A Multinational Benchmark for Evaluating LLM Clinical Reasoning in Dentistry with Expert Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24636/) (2026)
- [Large AI Models in Dental Healthcare: From General-Purpose Systems to Domain-Specific Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.02914/) (2026)
- [DentAgent: Evidence-Centric Multi-Agent Coordination for Multimodal Dental Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.18878/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Diagnosing and managing oral diseases necessitate advanced visual interpretation across diverse imaging modalities and integrated information synthesis. While current AI models excel at isolated tasks, they often fall short in addressing the complex, multimodal requirements of comprehensive clinical dental practice. Here we introduce DentVLM, a multimodal vision-language model engineered for expert-level oral disease diagnosis. DentVLM was developed using a comprehensive, large-scale, bilingual dataset of 110,447 images and 2.46 million visual question-answering (VQA) pairs. The model is capable of interpreting seven 2D oral imaging modalities across 36 diagnostic tasks, significantly outperforming leading proprietary and open-source models by 19.6% higher accuracy for oral diseases and 27.9% for malocclusions. In a clinical study involving 25 dentists, evaluating 1,946 patients and encompassing 3,105 QA pairs, DentVLM surpassed the diagnostic performance of 13 junior dentists on 21 of 36 tasks and exceeded that of 12 senior dentists on 12 of 36 tasks. When integrated into a collaborative workflow, DentVLM elevated junior dentists' performance to senior levels and reduced diagnostic time for all practitioners by 15-22%. Furthermore, DentVLM exhibited promising performance across three practical utility scenarios, including home-based dental health management, hospital-based intelligent diagnosis and multi-agent collaborative interaction. These findings establish DentVLM as a robust clinical decision support tool, poised to enhance primary dental care, mitigate provider-patient imbalances, and democratize access to specialized medical expertise within the field of dentistry.