Alan Clarke explores how integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into your practice can transform the patient journey.
In the ever-evolving world of dentistry, AI has emerged as a game-changing force, elevating patient experiences to unprecedented heights.
I really want to deep-dive on this positive catalyst by looking at how our professional role is going to be changed forever and what this means for you and your practice.
A premium dental experience
The seamless integration of AI into dental practices creates an unparalleled luxurious experience for patients. At Paste Dental, we were a very early adopter of this technology… Why?
I wanted to really transform our patient journey. We are a small, city-centre private practice with tech-savvy clients, so the quest was to see how we could take the latest trends and technology and run with them.
Could we change the patient journey forever? Could we set ourselves apart at the highest end of the luxury market? And what does that look like in 2024?
Luxury furnishings are amazing, but I believe luxury is firmly rooted in the interaction you have with your patient. The rapport, the connection and the trust all serve to deliver a bespoke, crafted patient experience. So naturally, AI follows suit. Technology is able to provide new levels of bespoke prevention, diagnosis and information: personalised medicine is becoming part of dentistry.
AI serves as a high-end concierge partner, letting me offer tailored solutions based on each patient’s dental needs, much earlier than previously possible. Earlier caries detection, calibrated bone loss measurements in seconds, data-driven percentages of carious tissue ingress: all patient-specific, all objective, all putting you ahead of the game in terms of diagnostic ability.
My personal workflow has been curated to include a high-definition series of patient photographs in our professional photo studio, follow by a 3D scan and AI-powered radiographic assessment as baseline. This combination gives my patients high access to knowledge about their dental health in that very moment. It’s very cool.
This integration of AI not only enhances the overall quality of care but standardises the diagnostic experience for patients between clinicians. This is vital in a world where luxury needs to be repeatable and practice makes permanent, so that patients on a Monday morning and a Friday afternoon receive the same expert-led diagnosis, from each clinician.
A powerful marketing tool
Artificial intelligence has also revolutionised dental practice marketing strategies. With AI-driven analytics, dentists can now identify patient preferences and tailor their services accordingly. This data-driven approach empowers dental professionals to create targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with their audience. As a result, practices experience increased patient engagement and retention, further establishing you as the go-to prevention focused clinic.
Empowering patients
Perhaps the most significant impact of AI in dentistry is its ability to empower patients with an in-depth understanding of their oral health. These conversations happen daily at Paste, letting patients receive personalised treatment plans, access predictive diagnostics, and track their own treatment progress.
This revolutionary approach fosters a sense of engagement, leading to better oral health outcomes and a higher quality of life. It builds the wellness-led community we have focused on creating at Paste: open, honest conversations about dental and physical health and learning together with a co-diagnostic approach.
This is so powerful; it really changes the narrative. Gone are those paternalistic, feardriven methods of behaviour change (that it is the patient’s fault they have dental disease).
Rather, it is now a learning process where we can provide a snapshot of their dental health at this very moment, free from judgment and ready to arm our patients to take back control, on their terms.
The game-changing potential of AI
The success of AI integration at Paste serves as a testament to the transformative potential of this cutting-edge technology. We were the first practice in Ireland to adopt this level of care: it was so exciting and really only the catalyst to how our practice would grow and transform.
We have since curated a treatment menu of options for early prevention as we were seeing new lesions sooner than ever before. Icon from DMG is an amazing addition to our toolkit, offering a super minimally invasive option for those incipient lesions and I can’t wait for some of the biomimetic solutions from Switzerland to hit the UK, hopefully later this year.
As more dental practices embrace AI, the future of dentistry looks brighter than ever before – with luxury experiences, personalised care, and patient empowerment at the forefront.
Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful catalyst, revolutionising the dental patient experience and unlocking new possibilities in oral health care. By embracing AI, dental practices like Paste are pioneering a new era of personalised, luxurious care that puts patients first. As AI continues to advance, the dental industry stands poised to redefine what it means to deliver exceptional patient experiences, one smile at a time.
My advice is to start the process now – give it a go early and you will be surprised how it transforms your practice both for your patients and your whole team.
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