How AI can help confront challenges for solo dentists and DSOs

Sometimes size doesn’t matter

Positioning matters. That’s especially true when you want to create and sustain growth in the face of obstacles to your goals, no matter whether you are a solo dentist with your own practice, a group practice, or a DSO.

Implementing an AI system is one way any size dental practice can gain an advantage over the competition by providing insights into radiographic findings, enhancing patient education, and streamlining team workflows, all to improve patient care.

Make progress in spite of the trends

Post-COVID trends since 2021 have created challenges. Some are traceable to pandemic recovery, while others are cyclical, depending on societal factors, such as:

• Economic instability
• Consumer spending
• Interest rate fluctuations

These factors, among others, could leave you wondering about the state of your dental business.

• Will patients prioritize oral health care?
• Is patient attrition a trend or a norm?
• What patient acquisition strategies will work?
• Are there new production and revenue opportunities I can pursue?

How can emerging technology help you address these issues?

Improve diagnostic consistency and accuracy

One thing about dentistry doesn’t change, regardless of external trends or practice size: Patients will continue to present with conditions that require diagnosis. And one thing AI excels at is diagnostic assistance. Whether you have one chair or many, AI can provide instant, chairside analysis of patient radiographs to help clarify treatment plans.

“Instant” here is key. Chair time is always precious, but when people rush, decisions can suffer. AI provides an objective view that isn’t influenced by personal factors and doesn’t feel pressure. In a matter of seconds, it can deliver pinpointed annotation on x-rays that can:

• Aid diagnostic decision-making
• Allow more time for quality patient interaction
• Increase clinician confidence

Beyond the obvious benefits of helping refine treatment plans, AI’s diagnostic capabilities can also help create a consistent standard of care and patient experience across your practice or organization, no matter how large or small it may be.

Educate patients better

Patient education also benefits from AI-assisted diagnosis. Technology-driven insights can help dentists present information in a format that patients understand better than black-and-white x-rays by:

• Delivering an objective analysis of compelling diagnostic factors
• Enhancing images with color and labels to improve visibility of important findings
• Showing changes from previous x-rays to current ones

Better understanding can then translate into increased case acceptance.

Support team efficiency and development

An efficient team is a substantial asset for any dental organization and every dental practice. AI systems that tap into the data of your practice management system, as well as provide clinical insight, can help team members:

• Refine skills such as treatment planning conversations and related case presentations
• Manage their daily energy by streamlining workflows and automatically summarizing schedule information
• Feel proud to be part of a practice and organization that values innovation that enhances patient care and team roles

Challenges are inevitable. AI technology is among the emerging innovations to help you overcome those challenges in your DSO, group dental practice, or solo dental practice.

Stay informed about AI in dentistry through resources like the following:

• The benefits of integrating AI with PMS to gain procurement and staffing insights
• Three ways CEOs can safeguard a company against obsolescence

Move through the challenges you face in your dental organization with AI solutions from a proven technology leader

Pearl is a global dental AI leader assisting dentists across six continents with robust clinical pathology detection.

Get acquainted with Pearl here.

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Curious how AI can benefit your dental practice?

Request a free live demo now.