Why the US-UK AI gap is closing in dentistry

Alan Clarke explores the role of technology in forming a global approach to crafting beautiful smiles and how the UK is catching up.

Ask the top UK dentists where they get their inspiration and the majority of us will say the US.

US dentistry has moved from a hyper-aggressive form of prepping to a stunning blended approach, with dentists such as Dr Sam Saleh, Dr Jon Marashi, Dr Andrea Clegg and Dr Thomas Nabors all honouring tooth structure while generating stunning smile transformations and leading this new wave of cosmetic dentistry.

We are now at the cusp of 2025. If you want to elevate your cosmetic dentistry over the next 12 months, I am going to detail exactly how artificial intelligence (AI) can help you craft this US-inspired blended approach, focusing on face first!

Things have gone global – and about time! We have been waiting.

Passion story

As a young dental student I had the privilege of taking an internship in the US with a top cosmetic dentist based in Washington DC. My eyes were opened to the level of detail American dentists apply to each smile design procedure and I was slightly puzzled in my naivety as to why UK dental school didn’t seem to cover these principles.

Each case was waxed by hand, with lab time built into every workday. The symmetry, emergence profiles of laterals and smile design using facially generated treatment planning (FGTP) built a stunning bespoke transformation, precisely designed for each individual patient.

Several courses later as a young graduate under the legendary Frank Spear, I started to appreciate how FGTP was the true foundation of smile design. Wax-up principles are combined with a deep knowledge of cosmetic dental outcomes and the concept of facially generated treatment planning to translate ‘what looks right’ to longevity, function and patient adaptability.

This helped me to realise exactly what the focus should be and how this approach at the time rarely made it into the UK dental narrative. This was the US way, not the UK style.

The facially generated approach

This chasm across the ocean I can thankfully say is closing. Techniques are improving here and a facially generated approach is more commonly applied within comprehensive dentistry. Advances in technology, especially AI, take a facially generated approach primarily and thus a new wave of US-UK sharing has begun.

So how do we elevate our UK practices to this level of US wax-up detail? How do we maintain bespoke dentistry, designed for each and every patient rather using than a templated approach that creates smile clones across the country? How can technology help us instead of creating unnecessary uniformity? Let’s deep dive…

Digital design

Personalised design is paramount. With AI you can now input all the bespoke information required for FGTP and reverse engineer the cosmetic dental steps to reach your designed design outcome.

While hand waxing will help, the complexity of digital design software will allow for the same micro-changes facilitated by hand wax. However it goes one step further in exacting symmetrical changes which are not reproducible with hand wax techniques.

Intraoral images, smile design photos and digital face bow records can all be combined and aid the clinician with clear treatment planning.

Truly informed consent, through the use of video, written and AI-boosted radiographic imagery can streamline the treatment planning process, elevating your service offering and changing the very fabric of the way we practice and view dentistry.

Test drive

Digital smile design software allows patients to visualise and test-drive their new smiles before committing to a set treatment plan.

Using AI-powered software, dentists can create a 3D model of a patient’s teeth and simulate the outcome of various cosmetic procedures, such as veneers, whitening or orthodontic treatments.

This patient-centric approach empowers individuals to make informed decisions and helps manage expectations throughout their smile journey.

According to Florin Cofar, smile design software can facilitate better communication between dentists and patients by visually representing the proposed changes.

He said: ‘Digital protocols and design tools provide clear clinical roadmaps for increased efficiency, precision, and predictability, vastly improving the quality of interdisciplinary patient care.’ (Cofar, 2022)

By using smile design software to create personalised and natural-looking smile designs, dentists can increase patient satisfaction with the final results.

Create the trend

As clinical professionals in this new AI world, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to provide amazing levels of personalised cosmetic dentistry to our patients. To help them really understand what is possible within the parameters of responsible practice and healthy dentistry.

Taking the lead from the US, UK dentistry can punch at that level, fuelled by global parity of skills and design principles shared across nations. Technology has brought equality like never before in our profession.

So I urge you to not fear this moment, embrace AI and you too may become someone who is leading the cosmetic dental trends of the future.

For references, email [email protected].

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