Everyone knows how important it is to brush your teeth twice a day, floss, and go to your dental check-ups. Over the years, dentistry has transformed from traditional methods–which are still very much used today–but now include newer technological advancements with higher resolution x-rays and more efficient methods of scheduling appointments.
Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, has seemed to take over the world in recent years making daily operations for businesses easier and doing everything from making videos, generating pictures, and even helping assist in research, writing, and other areas. In many instances, AI is also being used in the dental industry to help make many everyday procedures run faster, but will it take over?
There are many concerns that people have when it comes to AI–even in the dental industry–so there’s a lot to go over to see what it is used for and if it will become a prominent method in the field.
AI in the Dental Industry: Where is it Most Commonly Used?
There are many tasks and procedures that AI has made easier for dentists!
The dental industry is an ever growing practice that helps people with their oral health mainly using traditional methods and instruments. While these are tried and true methods that work, technology continues to advance to make everything from scheduling, diagnosing, and certain procedures much easier–and AI can contribute to this.
Ways AI is Implemented in the Dental World
It’s important to know that AI has not fully taken over in the dental world–instead humans are still using traditional methods to perform most common procedures, such as filling cavities, crowns, root canals, and even whitening teeth.
AI can make other parts of dentistry run smoother and more efficiently and it can help in the following areas:
- Streamline administrative tasks – Appointment scheduling, patient communication, and billing
- Teledentistry – Remote consultations where patients can submit dental pictures for an overview where AI can flag dentists for concerns and issues
- Patient engagement – Explain diagnosis in terms patient can understand with pictures, gaining their trust
- Treatment planning – Guide patients on their next steps by analyzing data, history, and past treatments for a personalized plan
- Radiograph and image analysis – AI-powered software can look over x-rays and intraoral scans to spot any discrepancies and detect diseases or other dental issues early on
- Automated documentation – Can provide color-coated visuals and markings for more efficient documentation and to spot concerns in oral health, along with sending insurance submissions.
- Virtual reality – Allows patients to use this immersive technology to for education purposes and to provide treatment visualizations to help answers questions and relieve anxieties
Is AI Efficient in Dentistry?
Although many businesses hate to use AI, it can also be super helpful in a number of ways without replacing anyone’s job–just essentially making things easier. The same can be said for AI being used in dentistry where it is only augmenting and improving both patient experience and a dentist’s daily workload.
AI is efficient in dentistry in a multitude of ways, including administrative support, insurance processes, workflow automation, diagnostic imaging, early detection and planning, and even AI-powered robotics that are slowly making their way into the field. While AI is still considered a work-in-progress in the dental field, it is still up and coming, allowing dentists, dental assistants, and administrative staff an easier and more efficient way to spot concerns and issues with a patient’s dental health, along with handling their information, billing, and insurance processing.
Will AI Replace the Human Component of Dentistry?
AI may help to make certain aspects of dentistry easier, but rest-assured, it can never fully replace the human aspect of it!
While AI technology has the ability to take away certain jobs, the human component of dentistry is extremely important and is something that will never go away.
How Humans Are Needed in Dentistry Compared to AI
AI can make certain parts of the dental field much easier, but there’s something about human empathy and compassion that helps to keep a business moving efficiently, builds clientele, and offers positive experiences compared to everything being done automatically through technology.
Perform Hands-On Dental Procedures
Robots haven’t taken over the world yet–so this means that humans are essential to perform every hands-on procedure that is needed in the dental world. From performing cleanings, cavity fillings, crowns, root canals, tooth implants, and teeth whitening, hands-on work will always have a human component to it that is necessary, especially for the precision that comes with it. The human touch will always be needed to provide the skills to perform and spot issues or concerns with dental health, while also providing top-tier customer service to patients.
Perform Accurate Clinical Judgment
It seems like AI knows a lot, and knows the answers to pretty much everything–even from just a simple Google search! One thing that AI can’t do in terms of dentistry is provide and perform accurate clinical judgment to diagnose and plan treatment for patients depending on their condition and needs. For example, while AI can provide guidance and recommendations for patients through teledentistry, a human is better capable of the final decision-making process to provide patients with proper direction on any issues or concerns they have while planning and performing the next steps.
Human Connection is a Must
Having a loving family, friends, and significant others in our lives, helps many aspects of a human’s overall well-being, including even the physical, emotional and mental aspects of it. Even in dentistry, being able to build empathy, trust, and express proper communication skills is important for patients–even the ones with anxiety sitting in the dental chair. This is something that AI will never be able to provide humans as it is not a physical being that you can see in-person.
Ethical Considerations Could Put Dentists at Risk
One of the key factors for AI to work as efficiently and as smart as it does is that it needs to have all of the necessary information possible to give the most accurate results. When it comes to AI in dentistry, there are a lot of ethical considerations to think over before implementing it in your practice–even if it’s just for administrative support.
Some of the ethical considerations that could put dental practices at risk is that the AI system requires a ton of patient data to function the way that it should for accurate medical and dental records. AI can potentially violate HIPAA violations due to security issues and data privacy making many patients’ personal information vulnerable to breaches. Patient information getting out can lead to thousands of dollars in fines and it can give the dentistry a bad reputation leading to poor business.
Lack of Human Oversight Can Cause Multiple Mistakes
Another reason why AI should never take over the role that humans play in dentistry is because of the amount of mistakes that it can potentially cause. AI is and was always made to be a tool to use and assist in diagnostics, diagnosis, treatment planning, and computer inputting and automation–not to completely replace humans. A lack of human oversight can result in issues when it comes to accuracy, potential HIPAA violations, and even misdiagnosis and treatment planning, which can be extremely harmful to patients.
AI Can’t Replace Humans in Dentistry For Both Hands-On and Automated Data Accuracy
Many people are worried about the rise of AI, it replacing jobs, and being a tool that people use too much to rely on instead of using it to assist in different tasks. It’s important to remember that dentistry is a field where years of schooling are required to provide expertise in properly diagnosing and treating patients, along with a hands-on component that AI simply can’t do.
Humans will always be needed in dentistry, but AI can certainly be a tool to assist in diagnosing, administrative support, patient scheduling, and even x-rays. Consider implementing AI for a new technological approach to help in certain areas in your dentistry practice and see some of the benefits it can provide!
If you’re in the Washington, PA area and are interested in an in-person appointment that can provide a ton of insight into the status of your oral health––consider contacting Elizabeth L. Wakim—exceptional smiles start here!
Dr. Elizabeth Wakim, DDS, is the founder of Enhanced Wellness. She’s a compassionate and highly-regarded dentist with her own practice in Washington, Pennsylvania, known for providing modern, comprehensive dental care, botox and facial aesthetics with a focus on patient comfort and anxiety reduction, serving general, cosmetic, and pediatric dentistry needs.
