Latest / The Word of Mouth Podcast / The Surprising Ways AI Is Changing Dentistry | WOM 009
Transcript
- Jeffrey Lunt: Welcome back to the Word of Mouth Podcast, the podcast where we discuss the trends, and news related to dentistry. I'm your host, Jeff. Sarah Lunt: and I'm your co host Sarah. Jeffrey Lunt: Today we're gonna talk about AI. It's a trend that is swept across the country, across the globe, and it is coming to dentistry, or it's come to dentistry in a lot of respects. And we're gonna discuss how AI affects dentists, how it affects the future of the practice, the future of the business. ⁓ we're gonna try and touch on all things AI dentistry today. Sarah Lunt: And the last episode we talked about ⁓ peptides some ⁓ technologies in. The reality is that dentistry is just evolving. There is so much change happening within dentistry. And AI, I think, is the absolute center of that shift. AI really is changing ⁓ so much I think every workplace, but in dentistry especially. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think you get improved AI-based diagnostics, ⁓ AI-based communications with clients, ⁓ you get predictive dentistry, which is kind of crazy to think about, but a lot of that comes back to how powerful these models are ⁓ analyzing the data that they've been given. And so as dentists put more data and patient data, obviously HIPAA compliant, but As they give these models more of this data to kind of chew on, the models get more powerful and better and quicker and just continue to improve. Sarah Lunt: and an important part recognize is that AI isn't just influencing the clinical outcomes, but I think patient trust is huge. Case acceptance has gone way up with AI, ⁓ as well as practice efficiency. So I AI, ⁓ if used correctly, really benefits everyone within Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, we talked a little bit last week about peptides as a buzzword and biological and natural and some of these the kind of buzzwords that make a difference in marketing. They make a difference in how your practice is perceived. And if you didn't listened to last week's episode, you should definitely go check that out. But AI is one of those buzzwords that has the power to bring people into your practice. We see it as a marketing agency. a lot of our stuff is pretty manual, but you talk about AI and everyone's eyes go big and they get super excited. And the things that are maybe the most practical for your patients aren't AI driven, ⁓ but AI from a business perspective at least certainly repositions and puts your practice in kind of a different tier. Sarah Lunt: I like how you mentioned the positioning and the marketing. It's so important that we realize that AI isn't replacing the dentist, right? It's just another tool they use within the dentistry ⁓ reshapes kind of what modern dentistry looks like. ⁓ it's a great tool for dentists to use to help serve as a second set of eyes, you know, but also to show patients that they're keeping up with the trends, right? And kind of use it in their marketing, in their positioning as a buzzword. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think a lot of people in healthcare and dentistry feel threatened by AI. But at the end of the day, at least for now, most people want a human working on their body and in their mouth. And so the dentist isn't going away, But the AI is a great way for them to bolster the offering of their practice, both in the types of treatments available as well as the quality of treatments available. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, so Jeff, let's talk about how AI is being used in in dentistry. ⁓ I think the main way that it's being implemented right now ⁓ is in the scans, right? AI is detecting the caries, the cavities, some of these dental issues, ⁓ The AI is doing it with a pretty high accuracy. It's pretty impressive how fast it's been able to learn, like you said, and some of these issues. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think as far as AI goes, probably the two places that it's most utilized in dental practices right now is in marketing, and we see that a lot, but also in the diagnostics. that that kind of front end diagnostic tool is where it's getting the most traction right now. A lot of the treatment and those kinds of things are gonna be rolled in, ⁓ especially with things like lasers and robots and some of those more advanced dental treatments. Sh certainly AI will play a role there, but for right now The diagnostic component of AI is kind of the frontier that is pushing forward into dentistry the most. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and think an interesting with this is that AI powered tools can analyze images remotely. We've talked a little bit about dental deserts ⁓ so not having to have all this expensive equipment right there in the dentistry, AI can kind of help Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I mean there are these deserts where don't have access to a dentist, but like we saw in Utah and the legislation there where hygienists can practice independent of a dentist, this is a place where hygienists can take these machines to remote areas, work in a sanctioned facility, and get these scans and send them back to the dentist. And then if the patient does need further care, Now it makes sense for them to travel because they know what they need. It's not kind of, hey, maybe you should go see a dentist and they kind of are having to travel on a whim, not knowing if they actually need care or not. so in terms of addressing the dental workforce shortage, this certainly presents some interesting opportunities. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and I mean, like we've talked about, AI isn't perfect, humans aren't perfect. I think having two sets of eyes on these things another advantage to using AI. There are some things AI can't catch that humans can, there's some things humans might not be able to catch that AI might be better at catching. ⁓ think it's really impressive that some of these tools are able to perform ⁓ levels comparable to trained clinicians. It's like having two. Dental hygienist two dentists taking a look at your teeth. It's it's basically a second opinion, which awesome. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, there's certainly a lot of advantages to using these tools in your practice in terms of growing your practice ⁓ expanding capabilities. ⁓ I there are things that we've seen dentists who are using these for placing implants ⁓ and that they have a much placement success rate ⁓ when they're using AI augmentation. And I think that that's the real key, Sarah, is AI isn't necessarily a replacement for the dentists or the dental work. It's an augmentation or a supplementation for the dentist to provide better service and better clinical outcomes. In the case of the implants and ⁓ more success rate in placements, The implants have a fixed cost to the dentist. And if there is a failed placement, obviously the dentist now has to eat that cost. So, what dentist wouldn't want a tool that can decrease the amount of replaced implants? And of course, this dentist that I'm referring to isn't necessarily bad at placing implants. It's not like they have a 60% failure rate, but any marginal increase in the success of the rate translates to bottom line dollars for that dentist. And so AI isn't replacing the dentist, it's just making him better at his job. I Sarah Lunt: Well and on top of diagnostic care, AI plays a huge role in preventative care. It can identify caries and bone loss. It can seize some of these ⁓ issues before they become issues. Which is to say that they can identify and predict future problems, which helps with that preventative care. Which is really popular in dentistry right now. Last week in our podcast we talked about peptides, which basically comes before the filling to try and prevent cavities from developing on the tooth. And I think ⁓ having as a tool to help ⁓ identify of these things that might not be super visible to the human eye ⁓ to get on top of some of these bigger issues could be huge in dentistry and could be a really big selling point in marketing for some of these patients. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and even a big selling point in terms of doing the things that they should probably already be doing. A dentist says you should flosh your teeth, that carries some weight for sure. But if you can point to a specific place on a tooth and say this point right here is where you're already developing ⁓ ⁓ softness, some decay. ⁓ ⁓ can't see that right now, but AI has picked that up that that will become a problem. If you don't act to correct that. And so you need to be flossing every day. You need a fluoride treatment. You need to use these, you need curios, that peptide that we talked about. Whatever prescription exists in terms of preventative care for that patient now has this weight of not only am I saying that as a human who is fallible in the maybe the patient's eyes. But you're saying a computer and machine learning and AI, all these things that we've kind of been conditioned to just trust blindly. I mean, you see all of the problems that come from that associated with AI for sure. But we are conditioned to trust that. And so how much more gravitas does it have with a patient where you say, ⁓ it's not just me as your dentist saying you need to floss, which every dentist on planet earth says. It's the AI saying you need to floss specifically here to prevent a filling at this place. in the future. i it just is a different way of presenting treatment and presenting kind of preventative maintenance that I think a huge effect on patient outcomes, at least in the state of AI right now. Sarah Lunt: Well, and I'll give you an example, Jeff. When I moved last year, I had to find a new dentist. I've talked in the past about my cavity that broke, and so I had to find a dentist kind of last minute to go into for some emergency care. And the first thing I did, they sat me down, they took the x-rays, they pulled up a screen, they said, We're using this new AI software. They pointed me through. It was really quite interesting. They had different colors for different things. They said, Here are some spots we're gonna be watching. ⁓ And then the dentist came in, talked about some of those things and said, I'm gonna check them out now. And it's like you said, I just had so much more trust seeing the AI, having him show me the images, telling me what the colors meant, and then then telling me now I'm gonna go through and make sure those are actually places we need to keep an eye on. so That's just a perfect example of how it just really enhances the experience for these patients and gains a lot of trust from these patients. I love my dentist and I plan on going to him for years to come. And I think part of that is because of the way he did present that AI and how he is using this new technology in dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I mean, we we know all about ⁓ and CAT scans and those kinds of things. Anytime you have a picture with the different things, ⁓ I mean, even ultrasounds. When we're going in for ultrasounds for our baby, I have no idea what I'm looking at. But having that image there where there's just kind of a ⁓ magic this visual presentation and so adding AI just increases that level of trust and patient acceptance and Of course, we're not saying you need to either rely wholly on AI, in fact, very far from it, you should not rely on AI more than you can acceptably do and you feel you can trust it. But that from a patient outcome perspective, everyone knows patients would be better if they flossed. The difference is the presentation of that. It's kind of like a kid asking their mom for advice ⁓ in high school. They're not gonna accept their mom's advice as much, but they accept it from their friend. Now that's not the right way to do it. Of course, people should just accept the dentist's advice, but AI has that kind of close friend effect for these these patients where you say AI said to do it and all of a sudden everyone's like, Well AI said to do it, so it must be true. And it's a crazy effect, but we see it working for dentists it it worked for you, Sarah. Sarah Lunt: Yeah. A hundred percent. ⁓ it dentists, it helps patients. I think it's awesome. Earlier, Jeff, you mentioned how it helps with the business side of things. I think the automation of the boring parts of working in a dental office, the charting, the scheduling, the documentation, ⁓ having take on some of those tasks ⁓ and being able to do more efficiently, more effectively. more simply, I think in a lot of ways, gonna a game changer for some of these dental offices that either don't have the capacity to do all of this stuff ⁓ or the or they honestly just don't want to, because everyone knows that the documentation isn't the fun part. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and the same goes for marketing, and reaching out to patients, getting AI to ⁓ reach out to patients for reviews, for referrals, those kinds of things just makes those things that all dentists should be doing more effective. And so, ⁓ like you said, the boring part of dentistry, the part of dentistry that no dentist signed up for when they went to dental school, they kind of ended up saddled with. Those are the things also that AI can help take off their plate and and help move their practice forward. So before we finish up, let's just talk quickly about some takeaways from this episode, how dentists should be using AI, how they should implement it in their practice, and then some things that they can can start with. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, I think the first thing is that it's just important to start small. We don't want to have AI take over everything in the practice and get overwhelmed with these new systems and new processes. So I think it's important to just focus on one area and slowly but surely start implementing that AI and kind of figuring out how that works with you as a dentist, how that works with your practice, how your patients kind of react to the AI and then move on from there. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and then adoption is key. So making sure your team's on board, that's just gonna make it so much more effective, in terms of adopting the AI for your practice. If they're using it and you're using it, ⁓ the more gonna start impacting all of your practice. Sarah Lunt: When using it to build trust with the patients as well. Like I talked about my experience with AI. It made my experience that much better because I felt like I was involved in the decision making. I felt like I understood what was going on. And so I think helping the patients see and understand their treatment using AI is a tool and that's a great way to ⁓ use AI in your practice. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and in terms of using it consistently. You wanna prioritize it in the places where it's gonna have the biggest effect. So the repetitive tasks. like Sarah said, analysis of patients, routine care. That's certainly a place where you're gonna use it every single day. So those are places where it should get priority. The big expensive robot ⁓ powered by AI that's five hundred thousand dollars, those the things that maybe you wanna work your way into. The the software or the tools, the the scanners that you'll be using every day, that's where you wanna start. Sarah Lunt: And finally, you just want to make sure it's positioned correctly. We've talked about the importance of marketing and positioning. And I think it's important to realize that patients, at the end of the day, they don't really care about the technology itself. The dentists care more about that. the patients care about the outcomes. So just making sure you position it in a way that is outcome-based for your patients so that they can understand the why of the technology and not so much the technology itself. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah. Positioning is everything, especially when it comes to treatment and patient outcomes and those kinds of things. Making sure your patients understand, feel like they're heard, make sure they feel like you're trusted. And I think too critically with the positioning is make sure you don't use AI and outposition yourself. You don't want AI to become the expert. You want AI to always be viewed as a tool. Now in some instances it might sort of be viewed as a priority messenger in terms of like flossing and those kinds of things, but you want to make sure that it's your dental practice, you're the authority, and that AI is really supplemental to what what you're doing and ⁓ just advances ⁓ you the ultimate authority in dentistry for these patients. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, at the end of the day, the practices that succeed will be the ones that use AI to improve the patient experience and increase the trust with the patients overall operate more efficiently. I think those are the three goals using AI in in dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: At the end of the day, dentistry is still human. AI just makes it faster, smarter, and more scalable. So ⁓ it's certainly something to keep your eye on as we move into the future. Thanks for listening with us to this point. if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe so you're notified of new episodes. We're here every week on Tuesdays, wherever listen to podcasts, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, etc. And we would love to have you comment and reach out. We love connecting with our dentist friends here. And to look forward to seeing you in the next one.