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The Challenge
Dr. August De Oliveira has spent 28 years building an efficient tech stack that helps him run his lean, four-chair practice. From CEREC and cone beam-guided surgery to CAD/CAM and 3D printing, the Encino, Calif.-based dentist has made a career of adopting the technology that will help him deliver the highest quality, most reliable care for patients and his practice.
Dr. De Oliveira recognized that even the most experienced clinicians carry blind spots. Despite a high-tech clinical practice, Dr. De Oliveira found mental multitasking led to overlooked peripheral findings on x-rays. With treatment plans ranging from $200 to $30,000, diagnostic variability carries real stakes.
He needed help addressing three persistent challenges:
- Eliminating distracted diagnoses during a packed schedule
- Bridging the patient communication gap with clear visuals,
- Optimizing ROI through consistent pathology detection
The Solution
In 2024, after hearing about AI in dentistry for more than a year, he integrated Second Opinion as a clinical co-pilot, and found it to be a reliable "spell check" for radiology. Its undistracted analysis and colorized tooth maps highlighted pathologies, confirmed diagnoses and built patient trust — all at a cost of around $500 for setup and about $350/month.
Dr. De Oliveira was surprised by how much additional decay the software picked up. "I watched the videos," he says. "I knew it would pick up decay, but I was surprised by all the decay I was missing." After 28 years as a dentist, Dr. De Oliveira doesn't have much ego aboug AI.
"What I always tell my patients is that, this is sort of like spell check. You don't get mad when you're typing an email and, spell check comes up and says, you misspelled 'though.' And so this is just another set of eyes, to help you in how you diagnose."
And, he says, its been an invaluable patient education tool. "It's a very visual way of showing patients what's going on in their mouth. ...You point to this little kinda gray thing and the patients justgo glassy eyed on you. So this really helps you educate the patient and tell them, 'Hey, you've got to floss."
The Impact
Within one year of integrating Pearl’s Second Opinion, his practice saw a 34% boost in annual collections and a $200K+ in additional revenue, without any added chairs, expanded hours, or marketing spend. He even hired an additional dental assistant to keep up with demand.
“Out of everything, having Second Opinion in my office has made the biggest difference in my practice,” Dr. De Oliveira says.
Results:
- Dr. Oliveira added $200,000 in revenue, a 34% jump
- His practice got a 41.5% return on its investment in Pearl
- They added a new dental assistent to keep up with demand
An Expert Edge: How Second Opinion Refines the Veteran Workflow
Pearl's AI-powered dental software refined Dr. De Oliveira’s daily operations, driving practice growth and patient trust.
- Catch Every Condition: Experienced clinicians naturally focus on the center of the x-ray, according to Dr. De Oliveira. Pearl’s real-time analysis acts as an undistracted second set of eyes, consistently flagging pathology in the periphery, such as incipient caries, recurrent decay, and PA lesions, that human eyes might overlook during a busy day.
- Confirm Each Diagnosis: A study by the Dental AI Council found that dentists split roughly 50/50 on detecting new decay. Dr. De Oliveira frames Second Opinion not as a replacement for clinical judgment, but a pragmatic "spell check" that helps him catch disease earlier and more consistently.
- Communicate with Color: A grainy, black-and-white x-ray can be hard to read for patients. Pearl turns those images into vibrant visuals, making it easier for Dr. De Oliveira to communicate their diagnosis in a way they instantly understand, so they can say “yes” to treatment.
