As I've mentioned here before... in my January Technology Evangelist column in Dental Products Report I went out on a limb and gambled by calling 2023 "The Year of AI in Dentistry". Over the years I've worked quite a bit with large and also start-up companies that were doing massive amounts of R&D into AI in dentistry. The focus at that point in time was in using AI to help with reading radiographs (x-rays to the non-healthcare readers).
My behind the scenes work with those companies (and there were several) quickly convinced me of the value that AI brought to the equation. I quickly became hooked on having an objective all seeing eye that was backing me up as I reviewed and read radiographs throughout my day. The problem was, all of this incredible tech was not commercially available. That meant I couldn't really tell others about it AND once testing was done, I lost access to the programs. Losing access was tough on me because I had rapidly grown accustomed to AI and all the benefits it delivered.
Then, in 2022 we started to see the research bear fruit as companies began to bring AI programs to market. In the fall of 2022 the office decided to implement an AI solution and we started using it full tilt in January 2023. I knew in my gut that AI was/is going to be the next "Big Wave" in dentistry so I gambled with my January column. Yet, I didn't really feel it was a risky gamble as I knew that in addition to the companies that were already selling their solutions to the profession, there was also more than one system that had submitted to the FDA and were waiting for FDA Clearance.
One of those companies was DEXIS and their product DTX Studio. I had been involved with beta testing and helping with the design of DTX Studio several years ago... back before AI was even considered as part of the program. I was helping with using DTX Studio to evaluate CBCT volumes and to help design surgical guides and other appliances that could be fabricated using the data in the program. So basically I knew the program and I was extremely confident in what it could do. *Then* I had a tour of the latest and greatest DTX Studio with some of the R&D folks at DEXIS that were working on the AI features.
Wow! It was impressive. However, due to the FDA submission, I was asked to keep what I saw confidential until the news cleared. Well, the news has been cleared.
You can get more info from the home of my column, Dental Products Report. Enjoy!!!
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