Leveraging the Advantages of AI in Today’s Dental Practice
There’s been substantial buzz around assisted intelligence (AI) in recent months, and its implications for efficiency and accuracy. Indeed, AI is now an ingrained part of our daily lives; consider how many times you ask Siri a question, command Alexa to play a song, or watch a suggested show on your favorite streaming channel — all enabled by AI.
The AI conversation has seeped into the world of dentistry as well. Once considered the realm of machines and equipment (think robots), today AI is as much about the technology behind the systems we use. That’s true for the technology found in a growing number of dental practices who are embracing digital solutions to improve the way they diagnose and treat patients.
AI has many promising applications for dentistry. AI can be used, for example, to point out an anomaly on a dental scan or to aid in selecting just the right shade to match a patient’s tooth. Automation is also driven by AI; for instance, dental software that applies changes across all settings based on user preferences, saving the time of having to manually make these updates.
AI can bridge the gap between dental software and other systems used in a practice, as well. Powered by AI, imaging software can intelligently prepare images captured by a digital X-ray system for viewing and instantly share information that allows the doctor to see an issue they might otherwise have missed.
All this to say: AI is not a replacement for humans, but a way to help humans — in this case, doctors — do their work more efficiently, accurately, and confidently. So instead of calling it artificial intelligence, a more apt term in the dental world might be “assisted intelligence.” In other words, AI assists clinicians in making better informed decisions that lead to better diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient outcomes.
DEXIS recognizes the tremendous potential AI (assisted intelligence) offers practices. So much so, we’re leveraging AI technology across many of our products. The DEXIS Titanium sensor, for example, incorporates several AI-enabled smart features including a monitoring system that supports sensor health by enabling remote diagnosis in the event of sensor issues.
The DEXIS ORTHOPANTOMOGRAPH™ OP 3D™ CBCT imaging system uses its ORTHOFocus™ feature that automatically captures the optimal image layer even when the patient isn’t in the ideal position. OP 3D also offers smart dose technology that ensures patients receive only the necessary dose during a scan to reduce exposure . Then there’s the MAR reduction feature, with an interface that helps select the best field of vision based on either the patient’s anatomy or the doctor’s preference.
AI-powered intelligence can be found in DEXIS intraoral scanning software as well. New AI scanbody functionality in IS ScanFlow enhances the quality of scanbody scans by utilizing AI-based detection and refinement of the scanbody, resulting in a more precise capture of the scanbody. Scanbody brands validated include Elos™, Straumann CARES™, Thommen™, Medentika™, MIS™, and SIC.™
But what brings together all of DEXIS’s AI-features is the next generation of DEXIS software, DTX Studio™ Clinic— which is also, you guessed it, powered by assisted intelligence. DTX Studio Clinic imaging software provides a centralized location to collect, store, view, compare, combine, and share images — whether they’re 2D, 3D, clinical photography, intraoral scans, or all of the above. This saves significant time from having to switch back and forth between different software used for each imaging system to find what you need.
For time savings and efficiencies, DTX Studio Clinic offers AI-powered features like MagicSort™ which precisely assigns numbers and orders intraoral images, correctly orients them, and places them into the right position in selected radiographic mounts. All of these functions would previously have been done manually, and laboriously.
DTX Studio Clinic also includes SmartFocus™, which instantly shares the entire 2D and 3D imaging history of a tooth on a single screen — with a single click. Then there’s SmartFusion™, which combines surface models from intraoral and desktop scanners with a CBCT scan to reveal accurate 3D views of surface details as well as the underlying anatomy. The software also automatically tracks tricky mandibular nerves with AI tracing of the nerve canal for better treatment planning.
Together, these AI-powered features save clinicians time in manual labor while also improving diagnostic and treatment planning efficiencies. Which means doctors can focus more on doing what they do best. AI helps do the work; the clinician can focus on delivering patient care. At DEXIS, our goal is to connect practices and clinicians to the advantages of AI as a supplement and complement to the vital human insight, expertise, and care they provide as they transform patients’ smiles and lives.
Content within this post originally appeared in Dental product shopper.
https://www.dentalproductshopper.com/article/ebook--getting-smarter-all-the-time
