Dental AI worth the buzz?
There’s a major buzz right now in the oral health field around AI-assisted X-ray analysis. Research shows that the algorithms currently available can already detect cavities on bitewing X-rays more accurately than humans. (A bitewing is the most common type of dental X-ray—your dentist typically snaps a few of them during a routine checkup almost without you noticing.)
Analysis solutions are commercially available, and new ones are popping up like mushrooms after rain. It’s actually quite astonishing how quickly and affordably ready-made analysis models can be taken into use and trained for a particular purpose, even though similar developments have happened in other medical domains earlier. Alongside the big brands backed by hefty investor funding, there are smaller startups around the world — often with just one or two developers — offering highly effective and competitive solutions for cavity detection. These solutions are also evolving at a breathtaking pace. Dental service operators and practice management software developers are having a hard time deciding where to place their bets, taking into account not just the reliability of promised development roadmaps but also GDPR requirements, the sustainability of these businesses, and other non-clinical factors.
But why would anyone want an AI-generated analysis of an X-ray? Intuitively, the answer is obvious: it helps catch hidden pathologies and saves the dentist’s time. Both are clearly important goals. However, a skeptic might point out that a skilled dentist can reliably and fairly quickly read the image on their own. If you save a minute, it doesn’t really affect overall throughput, because turning a 30-minute appointment into 29 minutes doesn’t free up any extra slots in the day. Well okay, at least one gets a second opinion if they hesitate.
Beyond that, one undeniably significant benefit of AI-based analysis lies in patient communication. The average patient can’t interpret much from an Xray other than varying shades of gray. But when AI highlights developing or advanced pathologies, the image comes to life. “Aha—there’s a cavity here, and another one starting over there. We should do something about that.”
Very soon, though, we’ll see that even greater value arises when we step back from focusing solely on reading individual images during the typical checkup appointment and instead look at the whole customer journey. We start adding real value when the AI’s findings don’t just sit as annotations on the X-ray but become automatic entries in the patient record, trigger recalls for a new visit, or perhaps generate easy-to-understand care instructions—something a regular patient can follow to understand the condition of their mouth. The time spent on documentation goes down, and maybe part of the dentist’s job shifts to other professionals, or even to the patient themselves.
Through these developments, we can access real benefits of the AI based analysis: better utilization of professionals’ time, more targeted customer flows for service providers, and, of course, more timely and comprehensive oral healthcare. Eventually, this technological development driven by the latest AI technologies will enable dentists to focus more on the patient instead of the individual problem in the teeth.