AI has been the hot topic since ChatGPT publicly launched in late 2022. While many exciting generative AI use cases have made headlines, when I think about the value of AI, I think about what is happening in our sector. I think about the real value that dental AI offers us and our patients.
The dental industry charter
As a dental community, providing excellent treatment is our number one priority. When patients come in for their routine checkups, they expect us to deliver, detect any dental issues, and recommend appropriate treatment.
But the truth is that we are human. We are understaffed and overworked. We perform exams while seeing catering and emergency patients. We run a business, worry about human resources issues, or consider writing to an insurance payer about a rejected claim. We may miss a small, asymptomatic indication of an early-stage lesion on an x-ray. Unfortunately, if what is tiny today is left untreated, it could progress to a chronic clinical disease.
Until recently, dentists could make treatment decisions and recommendations based solely on what they could physically observe. Since chronic oral problems can appear before they are visible to the naked eye, we have been limited in our ability to see and treat early signs of decay and disease. This is why dental AI is so exciting and such a boon for dentists and patients. This can help dentists detect oral health problems earlier and more accurately.
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The promise of dental AI in my practices
In my offices, 42 North Dental, we test, deploy and deliver best-in-class dental AI to dentists in our organization. For what? Because we strongly believe in technology and helping our doctors provide the best possible care while calibrating our providers so we can ensure exceptional patient care. Knowing that we have a way to ensure that all providers are diagnosing to the highest standard lets me sleep at night.
When we began reviewing dental AI at 42 North Dental, our dentists reviewed over 100 images with the naked eye and then with VideoHealth AI. Thanks to AI, dentists discovered almost 20% more carious lesions. In an FDA study, 100% of dentists using VideaHealth AI saw an improvement in their ability to detect lesions, regardless of their experience level. In this same study, dentists saw an average increase of 31% in the detection of caries lesions. While results may vary, neither set of numbers is insignificant or impactless for dental practices and patients.
Dental AI can help identify more variations and indications on areas that need further examination. But AI in no way replaces dentists. Instead, these data-driven recommendations augment the dentist’s valuable clinical experience and knowledge, providing objective and consistent observations to consider when making clinical decisions and recommendations. Dentists will remain a vital part of the disease diagnosis equation because they have the context of experience, patient histories, in-person exams, and more.
Build trust and improve results
When a doctor informs a patient that they have diabetes, high blood pressure, or a risk of heart problems, patients usually strive to comply with treatment recommendations. For what? Because this information is based on data: HbA1c levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Today’s patients trust data and objectivity.
Dental AI is another tool to increase transparency and insights, a clinical ally if you will. Every dentist using dental AI can provide their patients with a highly sophisticated, on-demand, data-powered second opinion without bias. We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well, it happens, and AI can eliminate the bias that often comes with assessing a patient and their oral health.
AI exposes the facts and eliminates the possibility of missing a lesion on film because we don’t think the patient could have a pathology since they look healthy. This requires providers to have fact-based, data-driven conversations with patients about their oral health.
In turn, the transparency and visibility dentists provide when leveraging dental AI improves patient outcomes. Specifically, it may promote case acceptance or earlier adoption of treatment plans. Current patient acceptance ranges from reasonable to dismal; every clinician leveraging dental AI will have the opportunity to help patients understand the benefits of early intervention. The data supports it.
Consider the meaning here. This represents a transformation for dentists, patients and the healthcare model itself. We’ve all seen patients without symptoms who delay treatment, and that can still happen, but we now have a transparent way to expedite and advance that treatment.
We cannot afford to make mistakes or miss disease or decay. Implementing AI not only allows us to prevent errors and avoid underdiagnosis, but also improve oral health faster through earlier detection of caries and measurement of early bone loss. This will lead to better overall health and reduce chronic diseases.
Dental AI: improving dentists, not replacing them
The quiet, whispered objection might be: “Will dental AI replace dentists?”
The answer: Not for a moment.
Dental AI is a tool. We have never turned away from clinical tools that can make our work more efficient, more precise and more meaningful. Why start now? It’s time to use new tools that provide a better patient experience. Clinicians offer their patients much more than X-ray analysis. We are our patients’ collaborators, advisors, educators and partners. AI simply helps us provide the best care possible. Dental AI is the future.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published inDE Weekendthe newsletter that will enhance your Sunday mornings with practical, innovative practice management and clinical content written by experts in the field. Subscribe here.
