The lack of patient education, trust between providers and patients, and medical-dental integration are three of the biggest hurdles in dentistry, according to this chief dental officer.
Understanding the link between oral health and other medical conditions is crucial to individuals’ overall health, and continuing to bridge that gap between the medical and dental industries is a big step in the right direction.
Dental AI programs are helping to improve all three of those areas, and these platforms are improving at a rapid pace.
Natalia Chalmers, DDS, PhD, is CDO and head of clinical innovation at dental AI company Overjet. She recently connected with Becker’s to share how AI has transformed the system of dentistry, from patients to providers to payers.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: If you could make any change to the dental industry overnight, what would it be?
Dr. Natalia Chalmers: There are three things that come to mind. First, I want people to actually recognize how important oral health is. If you are a patient with diabetes, and realize that you can’t have poor oral health, that gives you agency to do something about it. Frankly, I don’t think many people make that connection. People understanding what oral health means for their overall health, I think that would be so powerful, because once people know, they would look for solutions and access.
Another area is increased awareness of physicians of how they could use dentists as allies to move the needle forward in holistic patient care. Dentists are the partners that the medical industry needs to address health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. On average, a physician gets two hours of oral health education. They really cannot appreciate how an infection is impacting their ability to manage these chronic conditions that we’re trying to treat.
One of the biggest challenges for the dental industry is the out-of-pocket spending. The percentage that patients have to pay out of pocket for dental services is much higher compared to the medical side. That is a really big problem because for some people, dental care is just simply unaffordable.
Q: How does your work with Overjet help expand access, quality of care and patient education?
NC: AI is changing the trajectory of everything we do across the board. In dentistry, we now have a source of truth on whether a patient has dental problems or not, which is phenomenal. Some of the tensions that have existed in dentistry are between the patients and the providers over things like, Is there disease? Do we agree that there is disease? Is this overtreatment or undertreatment? This mistrust is solved today with AI because we are no longer debating if there is disease or not, we’re debating how to treat it.
The other piece that AI is helping with is actually between the provider and the payer, and you would not necessarily think that. At the heart of prior authorization denials is the disagreement between dentists and the insurance companies. Today, with claims backed up by radiographic analysis and findings, providers and payers don’t have to argue if there are diseases anymore, leading to fewer denials.
Q: Where do you see dental AI going in the future?
NC: The future of dentistry is evidence-based, patient-centered and AI-empowered. Whatever we do, there better be evidence about why we’re doing it. It has to help the patient. The patient is in the heart of everything, and AI is here to help us get there. I can’t think of a piece of technology that has had such a broad impact across the dental delivery system, from the patient to the providers to the payers. It’s super exciting to see where it will take us.
At the Becker's 5th Annual Future of Dentistry Roundtable, taking place September 14-15 in Chicago, dental leaders and executives will gain insights into emerging technologies, practice growth strategies and the evolving landscape of dental care delivery, with a focus on innovation, patient experience and operational excellence. Apply for complimentary registration now.
