ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS A GAME CHANGER FOR DENTISTRY

As a practicing dentist with a technology background, I am always looking for technologies that can make dentistry better for my patients and dentists. When I shifted from a technology career to dentistry, I had a feeling that dentistry was behind the technology curve but in the last 10 years there has been large leaps in dental technologies, from CBCT, CAD/CAM, and dental management software. 

However, I have always been frustrated with the variability in dentist treatment planning, I tell my patients if you go to 6 different dentists you will most likely get 6 different treatment plans. Also, with the pressure of dental insurance which doesn’t pay what it costs to do good dentistry and the costs to become a dentist and running a modern dental practice sky high, dentists are being squeezed, and this creates situations where dentists may not provide the correct treatment options to patients. I remember as an associate the senior dentist told me I had to hit production goals for that day even if that meant doing fillings or work that was unnecessary! Wow, that really surprised me and mind you this was a dentist that had been in practice for 30 years. 

I do 2nd opinion consults with patients all the time and when they bring treatment plans from other dentists it is hard not to really question what is going on with dentistry. Of course, we are all trained the same and must pass the same board exams, but the way each dentist decides to do treatment can vary widely based on biases and factors in their office. I do believe most dentists are honest and really want to help patients, but I also believe there is a disconnect in competition between dentists, dental insurance, and the variability of offering treatment plans to patients.

The exciting news is we have a solution to this problem, and I believe it will be the standard of care soon. Pearl Artificial intelligence www.hellopearl.com, has built on artificial intelligence software from the marketing image company Gum Gum and have transformed that AI software into the most accurate dental radiograph imaging analyses for dentists! This smart software has looked at an compared millions of dental radiographies and does something humans can’t do, and that is a massive data comparison over millions of patients and treatment options and predicting accurate treatment options for patients. This is the ultimate 2nd opinion engine for dentist and will only improve over time. 

What does this mean to patients, it means your dentist is being checked and has a very smart artificial imaging engine checking your radiographs and comparing them to millions of other images, no dentist could process this data, and come up with the best predicted treatment for patients, this is a tool to help dentists provide better care for patients. 

I just installed this service in my office, and it immediately found predicted problems for my patients, I believe I am a good dentist and I care about my patients; I would say I even feel bad when I tell patients they need expensive dental treatment. I am thrilled to have this service and excited to be an active re-seller. This is a game changer for dentistry and dentists and will help solve a major problem that haunts the dental industry.