How AI Help Dentists Save Teeth?

AI has increasingly become dentists’ best friends in improving productivity and make the best out of the $33 billion global dentistry market. Though machines are still learning to creatively address certain dental anomalies, the market is already flooded with AI-powered dental diagnostics products. It is projected that the AI tools, as of now can increase clinics’ revenue by 25%. This can happen because software solutions can increase the chair time of dentists by cutting down the time wasted on analyzing reports.

Detecting General Anomalies

Cavity or caris is among the most common dental issues. Certain type of cavities does not get identified during a routine check. Misdiagnosis rate of caris from X-rays maybe 20 % or more. Automated cavity detection is one of the common AI-based dentistry solutions that help address the condition. Thousands of radiographs (Xray images) are fed to machines that learn from patterns. Based on this, the cavities on the teeth of new patients are identified in a few seconds. Similarly, a solution developed by CT Dent could identify a perfect nerve in 4.5 seconds. Nerve damage many a time lead to litigation were dentist are sued for dental malpractice.

Smart Glasses Help with the Bone Structure

Dentem has a software named Dx Vision that detects anomalies from X-Ray. Later, the doctor may wear smart glasses and get real-time imagery of the bone structure of the patient’s skull and teeth. This makes the extraction easy and quick. The pain to patients can be minimized as some solutions can suggest how much pressure needs to be applied for various situations such as the installation of braces. A full 3D scan of the oral cavity can be obtained after seating patients on a dental chair. Softwares suggest procedures that can be executed by the dentist.

Prosthetics and Implants

Tooth loss due to accidents or diseases might require dental prosthetics. AI can identify the underlying issues and help dentists make an evidence-based decision. In some cases, a single tooth might be missing and in certain others like in an accident, one or both arches can be affected. There are dental solution companies that provide hardware to make dentures after analyzing radiographs with the help of AI.

 

Patient Management Made Easy

The clients will receive their annual or bi-annual reminder for a dental checkup from AI-enabled patient management software. The diagnoses, prescriptions and previous interactions within healthcare organizations are readily available for dentists. Based on this, a custom treatment plan can be provided. Drawing inspiration from IBM’s Watson platform, Dr. John Kois of the US had developed Evidentiae, Cloud-based software for Dental Health Care. Apart from giving an overall perspective, it gives suggestions to improve the aesthetics and functionality of the patient’s dental structure.

The Future

Already there are smart brushes in the market that reminds people of the parts that they do not brush adequately. Soon these brushes that can identify hairline crack, cavities and upload images into the cloud. The data will be further sent to the dentist who will reach out to the patient.

It is to be noted that, in China, a Robo dentist has already carried out the first successful autonomous dental implant surgery wherein two new teeth were added to a woman’s oral cavity. The artificial teeth were created by 3D printing. Such Robo dentists might help countries that face a dearth of dentists. It was found that around 400 million patients in China require new teeth but there was high waiting time due to the lack of qualified dental surgeons.

Key Players

Glidwell.io

Pearl

Dentistry.ai

Dentem

Orca

Videahealth

Dentem

Promaton

Dental monitoring

Cellmatiq

Denti

Necois

AI is expected to be used in all aspects of medicine in the coming days. Dentistry will be the was to be the first to be benefitted in terms of clinical results, cost reductions, improved access, and patient satisfaction.