Understanding Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry

Episode #436 with Dr. Marty Jablow

Artificial intelligence isn't taking over dentistry — yet. But it is changing what dentists can do. AI can enhance your dentistry, and Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Marty Jablow, president of Dental Technology Solutions and “America’s dental technology coach,” to explain how AI can improve diagnosis, boost treatment planning, and help you to help your patients in brand new ways. If you want to take your dentistry from Jurassic Park to state-of-the-art, listen to Episode 436 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

AI is an enhancement for dentists, not a replacement.

Understand why you need a particular piece of technology.

Ask yourself what the technology is going to do for you.

Choose the technology that is right for your practice.

You don't need a high budget to be high tech.

Don't be on the trailing end of technology.

Quotes:

“We’re in a place now where we’re not necessarily doing something new, we’re just finding better and more efficient ways to do them.” (4:10—4:18)

“If we take it out of dentistry, there are many places — there's radiology of the brain and things like that — where [AI is] as good as a radiologist. What that does is it opens it up for other people in places that may not have that expertise to get that expertise. If I'm in some unforsaken place that doesn't have that kind of person available, well, that may mean that I can use this AI to make a better diagnosis than I would maybe on my own.” (9:23—9:53)

“When I've used [AI] real-time in my office, it might point out areas that I need to look at. It’s not necessarily making the final diagnosis. That is still left to me. Takes a human being to do that. It’s complex. But with that, it points out areas that are suspect. And with that, then I can use other data points — see, that's the whole thing. To me, it’s all about how many data points can I have to make the best decision possible. Well, the AI is looking at these radiographs and making that determination from the radiograph.” (9:55—10:34)

“Ultimately, do I think [AI] will lead to a decrease in dentists? Yes. Will it be any time in the next 10 years? The answer is probably no. But ultimately, yes, because technology is going to catch up with a lot of things. It won't catch up with abuse, neglect, and all of those things. That, it won't be. And accidents. But what it will do, and I've seen some of this, we’re going to have more precision in what we do.” (13:08—13:36)

“If I can place something in a patient’s mouth and have a laser drill the very minimum to get things accomplished, and then restore it almost in the exact same manner, it’s going to be beneficial to everyone.” (13:42—13:56)

“[AI] may not take the doctor out of the room — it’s the number of doctors that you need in the room.” (14:44—14:49)

“Whenever you're going to implement or want to acquire new technology, there's one important question: what is it going to do for you? That's first off. And then, is there an ROI? Now, not all ROI is necessarily money. Sometimes, dentists need something to kick them in the butt to get excited about dentistry again, or something new and different, or that kind of thing. So, when I look at that, I kind of look at it the same way. But the first thing is, what are you asking it to do for you? Is it going to make your life more efficient? Is it going to give you better treatment? Is it going to give you better outcomes? What is it going to do? Because if you can't answer that question, why do you need it?” (16:40—17:25)

“You have to pick what works for you. And why do you do it? So, an example would be, depending on the cost of your crown, can you make enough money to justify the mill? I think everybody can justify an intraoral scanner. But...