With dental artificial intelligence programs becoming increasingly mainstream in the industry, it is important for dentists, dental practices and DSOs to know the whys and hows of dental AI.
Sarasota, Fla.-based Dental Care Alliance, a DSO with more than 400 practices in its network, recently announced a major expansion to its existing partnership with Overjet to integrate dental AI.
Adding and implementing AI is a big change for dental practices and providers, so it is very important for everyone to be on the same page, something that Overjet helped with during the process, according to DCA's CEO, Jason Heffelfinger.
While integration is still in early stages at DCA, the DSO is already seeing positive results and returns, with the education of dentists being one of the biggest takeaways.
"We've seen tremendous positivity through the implementation process," Mr. Heffelfinger told Becker's. "The biggest learning takeaway is really engaging the providers right out of the gate and making sure they completely understand not only how to use Overjet, but also why to use Overjet."
From the AI provider side, this is not the first major expansion for Overjet, as they have partnered with numerous dental groups. Every DSO is different, so meeting the company and aligning with their goals is key for Wardah Inam, PhD, CEO of Overjet. The integration is just step one in using Overjet to its full potential and the real work starts now.
"Now is when the fun begins and we're excited about seeing how we can build this partnership based on the feedback and recommendations that we get, so that we can keep on improving this technology and serving our customers better," Dr. Inam told Becker's.
Dental AI is still relatively new to the industry, and both Dr. Inam and Mr. Heffelfinger agreed that it is not intended to replace dentists, but rather is best used as an additional way to deliver care. Even if it isn't perfect, AI can be extremely effective in improving the patient and provider experience, as well as helping bridge the communication gap between dentists and patients.
"I think that being able to translate the vast amount of knowledge the dentists have into visuals that the patients can easily understand has been a key game changer," Dr. Inam said.
"When we talk about making sure patients get the greatest care possible, and they understand everything going on," Mr. Heffelfinger said. "To me, that's why we use AI."