AI is here to stay in the dental industry, but how it could impact dentistry in the future is still up for debate.
Here is what six leaders in the dental space have told Becker's about the potential of dental AI going forward.
Gordon Barfield, DDS. Senior Clinical Manager of Overjet (Boston): I think AI and machine learning is certainly the future, and it's here. It's not something that's out in front of us. It is literally where we are right now. I think in coupling that with very clear evidence that the profession is moving in the direction of data driven decision making, as opposed to inference guesswork, gut work, gut feeling, decision making. We are moving as a profession toward making these decisions based on data.
John Meis, DDS. Co-founder and CEO of Smart Choice Dentistry (Scottsdale, Ariz.): The new gold standard of dentistry will utilize new technologies, including AI, to improve patient outcomes. Better diagnosis, more ways to make disease visual to patients, improved case acceptance and restorations and appliances made in house will become the norm.
Richard Huot, DDS. Chief Business Development Officer of Velmeni (Sunnyvale, Calif.): I foresee that we're going to be able to maybe save the office some time on charting procedures for initial patients, as well as co-diagnosis that is going to help the hygienist. Even before the doctor walks into the room, staff are already working with the AI to get some sort of preliminary assessment of the patient. I think it's going to be huge.
Steven Jones. Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Cordental Group (Cincinnati): We're already seeing that our case acceptance has gone up. We said from the beginning to our doctors, we will never replace your clinical and diagnostic skills. I think the Overjet overlay within the radiographs has really presented an opportunity for them to be better presented to patients, and how the patients better understand it. That's where this really gets exciting for us is that we're not changing how we're diagnosing, we're just changing how we're treating and producing and presenting it to the patients.
Tim Quirt, DDS. Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations of Heartland Dental (Effingham, Ill.): I think we're both on a mission, one, to make dentistry easier but also more rewarding. AI definitely does that. In the future, we'll be able to potentially show progression of disease earlier, which will be another consideration for patients in understanding recommended treatment if they are able to see what could happen if they don't treat something early. It's a goal of dentistry and medicine to do no harm, and I think AI is definitely creating avenues for us to be able to do things as soon as possible so they don't become painful or more expensive.
Wardah Inam, PhD. Co-founder and CEO of Overjet (Boston): In 12 months from now, we will be covering many more diseases, and the introduction of new products will help in doing so. Five years from now, I believe that AI will become the new standard of care, which I think is already starting to happen in the DSO space. I think it's going to become more mainstream, not only the DSOs but across the board with solo practices as well. In the last few years, the technology has evolved and has gotten much better in its ability to detect, outline, identify and quantify oral diseases. I also think that dental AI will start to be applied more to improve administrative efficiencies and help the clinicians do their job better by spending more time with the patient and being able to improve patient outcomes.