A second opinion
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quietly rewriting the dental care playbook
This autumn, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow will stage its annual dental conference, with the title AI in 2026 and Beyond1. From diagnosis and treatment planning to patient communication, the one‑day conference will explore the role of AI across modern dentistry.
This magazine will carry a report on the conference, benefitting from the expertise and insights of the speakers. But, for now, here is a slightly (actually, significantly) less expert rumination on AI in dentistry. For generations, the dental chair has been viewed as a place of vulnerability. The patient lies back, stares at a textured ceiling tile and waits for the verdict. When a dentist points to a grey smudge on an X-ray and says: “We need to look at this,” patients have historically had no choice but to rely on their trust in a healthcare professional.
But behind the scenes, a quiet transformation is under way. Artificial intelligence is making itself comfortable in the treatment room; as a dentist’s observant, tireless co-pilot. It is not about robotic arms holding the drill; it is about using machine learning to take the degree of (albeit informed) guesswork out of oral healthcare.
Historically, dental diagnostics have carried a surprising degree of subjectivity. Ask three different dentists to look at the same borderline bitewing X-ray, and you might get three slightly different treatment plans. One might suggest a filling immediately, another might suggest monitoring it and a third might miss a tiny shadow indicating early- stage decay altogether. In clinical studies2, this variance
is measured through inter-examiner reliability (how much different dentists agree) and intra-examiner reliability (how much the same dentist agrees with themselves over time). Studies show that while agreement is very high for obvious, deep cavities, it drops significantly when identifying early-stage, incipient decay.
AI is erasing these grey areas. Advanced computer vision models, trained on millions of annotated radiographs, can scan a digital X-ray in seconds. They highlight bone loss, identify microscopic cavities long before they can be felt, and even outline the exact boundaries of gum disease with sub-millimetre precision. Instead of trying to decipher a vague grey gradient, patients can be shown clear colour-coded visuals showing exactly where bone level changes or decay exists. This level of transparency could be a gamechanger in terms of patient trust. When you can see a bright red highlight outlining a cavity, treatment recommendations feel less like a sales pitch and more like objective science.
While diagnostic software is in the spotlight, some of AI’s biggest victories in dental clinics are happening where patients rarely look; in daily workflows and paperwork. The modern dental team is perpetually bogged down by administrative tasks; transcribing periodontal measurements, verifying complex codes and charting treatment plans. AI speech-to-text systems now allow hygienists to call out numbers hands-free during gum exams, automatically populating patient charts in real time. Predictive booking algorithms optimise scheduling, drastically reducing empty chair time and keeping clinics running on schedule. By offloading these tasks to machine learning systems, dental professionals can reclaim what they went into the profession for; direct, empathetic patient care.
With all this technological integration, it is natural for patients to ask: “Is my dentist being replaced?” Obviously, no. AI systems are incredibly fast pattern-recognition engines, but they lack clinical intuition, ethical judgment and, clearly, the physical dexterity required to perform delicate micro-surgery inside a human mouth. An algorithm might spot a problem, but it cannot comfort an anxious child, adapt to a patient’s unique gag reflex or weigh the psychological impact of a complex cosmetic decision.
But what we are witnessing is the dawn of collaborative intelligence; the algorithm acts as a safety net while the dentist retains the final say, guiding the treatment plan with years of human experience. Clearly, we must be conscious of hype. But let us, borrowing from the book All the President’s Men3, about the Watergate scandal, ‘follow the money’.
Here is an extract from a report4 in Dentistry Today: “When Wardah Inam arrived in the United States from Pakistan to pursue her PhD at MIT, dentistry was not on her radar. AI was. But a single experience changed everything. After switching dentists and receiving a dramatically different treatment plan, she realised oral healthcare was operating more on intuition than on evidence. She co-founded Overjet in 2018 to fix that.
“Today, Inam leads the #1 dental AI company in the world. Overjet’s FDA-cleared platform detects and quantifies oral diseases on X-rays with sub-millimetre precision. Under her leadership, Overjet raised $133 million, reached a $550 million valuation, and earned recognition from TIME, Fast Company and EY.”
References
1rcpsg.ac.uk/education/annual-dental-conference#programme
2pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4327495
3www.amazon.co.uk/All-Presidents-Men-Bob-Woodward/dp/1416527575
4www.dentistrytoday.com/women-in-dentistry-two-women-one-mission-transforming-oral-health-through-ai/