Artificial intelligence has quickly permeated nearly every area of patient care and practice management.
Two leaders recently spoke with Becker’s about AI’s growing role in dentistry.
Editor’s note: These responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Annie Sawyer. Director at 3D Dentists: What I am currently seeing across practices throughout the U.S. is AI is moving quickly from experimentation to measurable operational value in dentistry. Early wins with the greatest impact will be in business operations, patient automation and workforce training — areas with clear and quantifiable ROI.
From an operations and management standpoint, AI is reducing administrative friction across scheduling, insurance verification, claims review and revenue cycle management. Practices deploying AI-assisted workflows are seeing 20–40% reductions in administrative labor, fewer claim denials and faster reimbursement timelines. The combined effect is improved margins, stronger cash flow and the ability to scale without proportional increases in headcount.
In patient automation, AI-driven communication systems are improving access, responsiveness and schedule utilization. Automated reminders, confirmations, recall outreach and digital intake are reducing no-show rates by 15–30% and reactivating overdue patients — particularly in hygiene. These gains translate directly into incremental revenue while simultaneously reducing front-office call volume and staffing pressure.
AI is also delivering value in education and training by shortening onboarding time and improving workforce consistency. Role-based, on-demand training supported by AI reduces ramp-up costs for new hires and limits productivity loss from turnover. Over time, better-trained teams contribute to improved case acceptance, operational consistency and staff retention — each a material driver of long-term financial performance.
Operationally, AI is becoming a core operational lever rather than a clinical novelty. Practices and organizations that adopt it strategically are experiencing, or will experience, measurable efficiency gains, revenue protection and scalability advantages.
The primary risk is not adoption cost, but falling behind competitors who are already capturing these efficiencies.
Frank Tuminelli, DMD. Vice President of the American Board of Prosthodontics: AI is integrated into the dental profession on a variety of levels and is continuing to evolve into every facet of dental technology and clinical practice. From the initial stages of a patient’s interaction with a dental practice, AI is part of scheduling, data acquisition, improving efficiency or treatment planning and making it a more personal service for each patient. AI virtual assistants enhance the process streamlining from initial appointment procedure implementation.
In the diagnostic realm, AI is now capable of diagnosing dental caries, periodontal disease and pre-cancerous or early cancer detection. AI’s ability to interpret radiographic images faster and more accurately than humans will potentially result in intervention that is timelier and with less damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
In the treatment aspect of dentistry and the resulting placement of provisional and permanent restorations, AI is instrumental in digital workflows such as CAD/CAM, milling printing and the designing of the restorations. It enables practitioners to plan, manufacture and place restorations the same day (many times on site) both in simple and highly complex restorative plans.
With the introduction of facial scanning and the global understanding of esthetics, AI enables the practitioner to plan and show the patient a design, modify if necessary, and place beautiful esthetic restorations.
The accuracy of fit and occlusal alignment is evolving with virtual articulation and fabrication of restorations once only possible through multiple appointments, with impressive accuracy.
In conclusion, AI is now embedded in the diagnostic, technical, and all other aspects of clinical care that will surely improve patient outcomes in a timely manner, with accuracy, precision and excellent esthetics.
