The growth of artificial intelligence in the dental industry has continued its momentum in 2023 through industry collaborations and technological innovations.
Here is how AI is expanding in the dental field this year:
Industry partnerships
Several dental companies have partnered to expand the use of AI among dental practitioners.
VideaHealth has landed several partnerships so far this year, including with Alpharetta, Ga.-based DSO Oak Dental Partners. Henry Schein, a dental supply company, also partnered with VideaHealth and Bola AI to integrate their AI programs into its practice management software.
Earlier this month, Bola AI and Curve Dental teamed up to provide more dental practices access to Bola AI's voice charting system. The partnership will integrate the Voice Perio system into Curve Dental's SuperHero practice management software. Carestack, a cloud-based dental practice management platform, added two of Pearl's AI programs into Carestack's management platform.
Overjet has also added its AI technology to several dental companies. New England Dental Group partnered with Overjet to add AI-powered X-ray analysis to its 10 practices across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Texas. In January, Dallas-based Pearl Street Dental Partners integrated Pearl's AI service at its 34 locations in Texas and Oklahoma.
Artificial intelligence has continued to intersect with other dental services, including teledentistry and clear aligners. Clear aligner company Candid launched a multi-year partnership with SoftSmile, an artificial intelligence orthodontics company, to bring SoftSmile's Vision treatment planning software to providers using Candid's orthodontics platform.
Earlier this year, teledentistry company Dentulu announced it would add Pearl's AI technology into its network, marking Pearl's first integration that does not include brick-and-mortar dentists.
"AI is a transformative dental technology not only because it elevates the standard of care, but also because it has the potential to democratize access to higher quality dentistry," Pearl CEO and founder Ophir Tanz said. "Our partnership with Dentulu represents an important step forward for dental care in the digital era, because together we are realizing that democratizing potential by bringing the benefits of AI beyond the dental office to any patient with an internet connection."
Technology advancements
Several AI dental companies have expanded their product and service offerings with plans to launch more later this year.
VideaHealth gained FDA 510(k) clearance in February for its interproximal bone level measurement tool for periodontal disease assessment. It also received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for Videa Assist, its dental AI imaging technology.
When speaking of the new patent, VideaHealth founder and CEO Florian Hillen said he recognized how the use of AI can affect various industries.
"When I was still a researcher, I saw how impactful AI was becoming for everything from customer service applications to financial market use cases and to healthcare. It was then that I realized how powerful AI insights could be in dentistry when applied to X-ray analysis," he said. "AI-powered X-ray analysis serves as a data-driven assistant to dentists, bringing a higher level of confidence to both dentists and patients."
In February, call management software company Patient Prism launched an AI-powered patient call monitoring system for dental practices.
SoftSmile's Vision software was recently named the winner of the Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards program and said it has 30 patents pending as it looks to expand its product portfolio this year.