If you’re a pediatric dentist, you’ve probably heard about dental AI. Artificial intelligence has become an essential tool for thousands of dental practices, which means that many patients now expect to see AI when they come to yours.
The good news is, you don’t have to be an AI expert to take advantage of this powerful technology. In fact, the best AI tools actually make your administrative work much simpler — by putting each patient’s key information, previous images, and future treatment recommendations on a single screen.
The fundamental challenge for pediatric dentists is to build trust with kids — and their parents.
In this post, we’ll cover the 3 most important applications of AI for pediatric dentists:
Detecting tooth decay in children — with unprecedented precision
Increasing case acceptance, by visually showing parents what you see
Practicing preventive dentistry based on each patient’s unique needs
Across the board, dental AI allows you to provide the absolute cutting edge of care, with minimal training for your team. Check out how Dr. Stephanie Serpa of Kids First Pediatric Dentistry uses AI to build a lifetime of trust with kids:
Let’s take a closer look at those 3 key applications of AI for pediatric dentists:
Detecting decay that’s easy to miss
Dental AI is probably most famous for helping dentists identify subtle oral diseases, which can easily go unnoticed. Overjet, the leading dental AI platform, is nowcleared by the FDA to detect and outline decay in children ages 4 and up — allowing you to diagnose cavities earlier for your patients. In fact, in a rigorous clinical study, 100% of dentists improved their accuracy in detecting decay, when using Overjet.
Increasing case acceptance from parents
Of course, detection is only half the battle. Your patients also need to understand your diagnosis and treatment recommendations, which is where dental AI has proven to be an indispensable tool for pediatric dentists.
The most advanced AI solutions show your patients exactly what you see, by adding color-coded overlays that bring their X-rays to life. Beyond just decay, Overjet is also FDA-cleared to outline enamel, pulp, and past treatments on children ages 5 and up. This transforms black-and-white radiographs into colorful images that parents can immediately understand. On average, dentists see their case acceptance rise by 25% when they use Overjet to communicate with patients.
Practicing preventive dentistry with data
Last but not least, pediatric dentists are using AI to identify necessary treatment, based on each patient’s previous images and PMS data. This is a game-changer for busy practices that care for hundreds or thousands of patients, since keeping track of so much information is a perfect problem for AI.
In particular, Overjet’s AI-powered dashboards help your whole team prepare for each patient during morning huddles, by putting their past images, key information, and future treatment needs on a single screen. For example, the dashboards notify you when a patient is due for sealants based on your PMS data, and highlights any caries for you to re-evaluate. Ultimately, these insights allow you to practice preventive dentistry — and provide the best possible care.
By using dental AI, pediatric dentists build total trust with kids — and their parents. Artificial intelligence has revolutionized dental care, from detecting disease, to communicating with patients, to preventing future issues before they cause pain. And if you read this blog post, you know everything you need to get started!