As AI and automation tools spread across dentistry, most of the conversation has focused on what they can save: staff time, administrative work and missed revenue. Less attention has gone to what they can cost.
Beyond the subscription price, practices are running into expenses they didn’t plan for, from added tech partners and dips in productivity during rollout to the time it takes to train a tool to work the way a team needs it to. Some executives also warn that today’s low prices for certain AI tools may not last.
And even when the technology works as promised, it doesn’t automatically set a practice apart from the competition down the street.
Four dentists and dental executives discussed the costs leaders tend to underestimate when evaluating AI and automation at Becker’s 5th Annual Future of Dentistry Roundtable in Chicago.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What cost do dental leaders tend to underestimate when evaluating AI or automation, whether that’s implementation, integration, training, vendor management or something else?
Catrise Austin, DDS. Owner of VIP Smiles (New York City): I’m always going to bring it back to marketing. We’re all getting AI and automated technologies, but you still have to compete. You still have to advertise what makes you different and helps you stand out. If you don’t make that point of differentiation, you still look like the dentist down the street, and you’ll end up losing money on patient acquisition.
Benjamin Lashley, DDS. Founder and CEO of Maple Park Dental Associates (North Platte, Neb.): In my experience, there were unexpected costs in the implementation. As we went through it, there were also tech partners we needed to add that we hadn’t thought about, because I hadn’t gotten that far down the road yet. So we had a sizable capital investment that showed up in our cash flow for the first six months or so, but then it evened out. There’s also the learning curve for the people who championed the rollout and locked arms with me to make it happen. Productivity dips for a little while. I expected that, and it caught up quickly. But those are things to think about. When you implement something different, it’s one step back to go two steps forward, and that’s very real.
Ian Miller. Strategic Growth Consultant of Cal Dental USA (Los Angeles): The big cost is the unforeseen cost. Right now, AI is free in some cases and very expensive in others. There’s a little controversy on this, but I can promise you that your AI costs could not only double or triple, but go up by 10 to 20 times. There’s going to be a shortage of the chips that power this technology, and it’s going to get more expensive for everybody to use. We’ve already seen it with voice AI. People who implemented voice AI six months ago are seeing their costs go through the roof right now, and in some cases, it’s more expensive than an employee. You have to look at what future costs are going to be. Some AI will remain very inexpensive, but some is going to be very expensive.
Stefanie Salerno. Director of Revenue Cycle Management at Aligned Dental Partners (Sarasota, Fla.): From my standpoint, it’s implementation and training on how to use it. A lot of people think AI is plug and play, but it’s a mind that’s still learning. I always say AI is like a really, really smart teenager. You have to give it very clear instructions and good data, and you have to learn how to talk to it. You’re not just going to buy a subscription and have it fix all your problems. Once it learns what you need, what you want and how you think, things get better. But it won’t be perfect right off the bat.
