Dental AI programs and technology have become more and more common in the industry in recent years.
Co-founder and CEO of dental AI company Overjet, Wardah Inam, PhD, recently connected with Becker's to talk about the future of dental AI and dental trends to keep tabs on.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Where do you see dental AI and tech one year from now? Five years in the future?
Dr. Wardah Inam: In 12 months from now, we will be covering many more diseases, and the introduction of new products will help in doing so. Five years from now, I believe that AI will become the new standard of care, which I think is already starting to happen in the DSO space. I think it's going to become more mainstream, not only the DSOs but across the board with solo practices as well. In the last few years, the technology has evolved and has gotten much better in its ability to detect, outline, identify and quantify oral diseases. I also think that dental AI will start to be applied more to improve administrative efficiencies and help the clinicians do their job better by spending more time with the patient and being able to improve patient outcomes.
Q: What are some trends that you are following in the dental industry?
WI: One is definitely the adoption of dental AI. The second, which is very interesting to me, is robotics in the dental space. I have a background in robotics, and this is an area that I feel that there's a lot to be done and it is probably that next wave that's coming. Third would be the medical-dental integration based of how there's a lot of research happening around it and how medical and oral health are connected, but also how do we actually create interventions as well as help create systems that that can ensure that the dentists and other medical professionals can have a positive impact on overall health.