The Technology and Trends Shaping Dentistry Today

The dental industry is currently going through a period of unprecedented growth and learning. Of course, growth is never free of challenges or obstacles, but overall, this is a crucial opportunity to pivot our industry for the better, inclusive of both providers and patients.

Having joined the leadership team at dntl bar just a few months ago, I’m excited to take part in the forward momentum. From advanced dental technology like computer vision AI, digital payment processing, and teledentistry to honing in on the patient experience, there’s a lot to be excited about.

Here I want to share my insights on where I see the industry heading and the technology and tactics that will help propel us (and our patients) towards more enjoyable and simplified experiences.

What’s next in dental technology?

I have my sights set on three things for the future of dental technology: computer vision AI, digital payment processing, and teledentistry. All three tie into the shift towards enriching the patient experience and simplifying back-end processes on the provider side.

Let me break each down.

Computer vision and AI

If you watch NBA basketball, then you’ve seen computer vision in action already. I always wondered why logos started appearing on the jerseys of Chicago Bulls players and when I dug deeper into it, I discovered computer vision was being used to help measure advertisers’ social media exposure, and (better yet), quantify it.

In the world of dentistry, computer vision is already revolutionizing how providers view and interpret x-rays, but it’s definitely not being used to its full potential quite yet. For example, it can be a challenge to get multiple providers on the same page in terms of diagnosis. One may take a look at a set of x-rays and see ten incipient lesions that need a treatment plan for class II composites, while another provider sees ten but annotates and creates a treatment plan with zero restorations.

Computer vision can bridge the two opinions together to help clinicians diagnose disease more comprehensively and consistently. That way if ten dentists have ten patients and a total of 100 treatment plans, no matter where the patient chooses to get their work done, all treatment plans will be similar (if not the same) across the board.

Just as you expect to order your usual latte at Starbucks no matter which of their nearly 33,000 global locations you go to, patients expect (and should receive) consistency in their treatment plans no matter where they go.

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Digital payment and insurance processing

I have a vision that each operatory will become its own mini-office. Picture this: You’re at the dentist having a tooth extracted. After you’re finished, your mouth is numb and stuffed with gauze. The last thing you want to do is go have a conversation with the person at the front desk about insurance and payment. But thanks to digital payment processing, you can checkout seamlessly right in the treatment room via your smartphone.

Coupled with technology like computer vision and other AI tools, patients would be able to get their claims adjudicated in real-time, receive their treatment plan, and know exactly what they’ll owe after insurance instantly—without getting billed for a balance. Not only does this save time and effort on the patient end but it prevents the front desk from getting bottlenecked with patients checking in and out. And I’m sure you can agree, anywhere you can improve workflow efficiency on the back end is a win.

This approach alone can break down some of the biggest barriers that providers see in terms of payments and scheduling and it’s something the dntl bar team is actively working on implementing. At the end of the day, convenience and simplicity are what cultivate that patient loyalty every DSO and private practice is after.

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Teledentistry

By now it’s probably safe to assume you’ve had your own telehealth experience. And if you’re anything like the 65 percent of people who’ve enjoyed this approach to healthcare, the convenience factor was a huge plus.

Access to healthcare in both rural and urban areas undoubtedly needs improvement and teledentistry offers the opportunity to provide patient-centered services no matter where someone is located. Of course, there are limitations to this, but easier access to treatment planning and specialty consultations via online visits is a step in the right direction.

Never did I think I’d be celebrating family birthdays via Zoom or that I’d be FaceTiming with my grandma overseas, but times have certainly changed. This way of digitized living is seeping into our everyday lives from the way we shop to the way we work, and it’s time for healthcare to catch up.

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Where should DSOs and group practices focus?

It used to be that if you decided to grow through acquisition, you were also purchasing provider loyalty. But these days, beyond the Baby Boomer and Gen X generations, that loyalty is dwindling. The patient's money value of time is at its highest currency value and people aren’t afraid to find someone else who can meet their needs.

These days, more and more DSOs are losing patients not based on quality work or customer experience, but convenience (are you sensing a theme yet?). Think of how over recent years, Amazon went from three-click ordering to one-click ordering. Once consumers saw that they could checkout even faster, it was game over. People started spending more money per order and suddenly other retailers realized they needed to seriously simplify things if they wanted even a chance to compete.

In dentistry, this looks like offering accommodating hours, online booking and payments, and implementing the technology that makes sense for your practice. Within DSOs and group practices this can be difficult to do in-house but there are opportunities for third-party partnerships that can help ease the process of making change.

For the first time, there are also venture funds investing in dental startups and oral tech companies. This is a great opportunity to follow the money as investors continue to invest institutional capital in dental and private equity backed DSOs.

Adopt a patient-first model

If there’s one thing you take away from this article, I hope it’s this: start putting your patients first. My advice would be to become an early adopter of this way of thinking and not wait until your patient population erodes.

The consumer and healthcare experience is long overdue to align. I’m excited about creating a better patient experience in dentistry and for providers to use the technology that’s emerging to support that.

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About the Author

Dr. Ro is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry. In addition to his DDS degree, he also obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Loyola University with dual emphases in finance and marketing. He later capitalized on the opportunity to utilize all three when he purchased his first practice in the south suburbs of Chicago in 2008, where (despite a historically difficult period in the country’s economy) he led the practice on an exponential growth path from three employees operating in 650 square feet of space into a 35+ network of multi-specialty dental group practices with over 100 dentists and dental specialists. In 2019, Dr. Ro founded the dental consulting firm DSO Strategy, LLC, which was created to help entrepreneurial dentists strategize a growth plan for their dental group practices that would transform each not only into a thriving DSO, but also an investable platform for institutional capital. He also serves as a key advisor to multiple private-equity funds as well as banks.

Dr. Ro is perhaps most known for his last role as Head of Dentistry for Walmart. Walmart Health is a set of revolutionary multi-modality healthcare centers that include primary medicine and dentistry. Dr. Ro’s strategy and multiunit healthcare services experience have been paramount to Walmart in helping align and re-align the strategy and expansion of Walmart Health, now in four states. After the successful completion of building a scalable model and plan for Walmart Health, Dr. Ro recently stepped away to join an early-stage New York City startup, dntl bar, serving as its President. An emerging tech-enabled DSO with four locations currently, Dr. Ro looks to further their success and improve upon an NPS score that is already at an 85, while continuing to emphasize high-quality convenient patient care.

Dr. Ro resides with his family between New York City and Atlanta, although he still considers himself a Chicagoan, which will always remain his heart and hometown.