As the Director of Hygiene Strategy and Operations at Aspen Dental, I keep my finger on the pulse of both the healthcare and dentistry worlds. I've always been interested in how technology can enhance our lives. From smartphones to digital personal assistants, innovation has quickly crept into our homes.

This trend extends into the medical and dental fields, as well. Clinical professionals have begun artifical intelligence (AI) based technologies to improve operational effciency, guide better decision-making, and bolster clinical excellence. Recently, providers at Aspen Dental Practices have implemented voice-enabled AI for periodontal charting, which benefits both providers and patients.

Useful technology targets major pain points

Documentation is a crucial yet inconvenient task for most providers because entering data into periodontal charts takes time away from patient care. Typically, hygienists work with dental assistants to complete periodontal charts. Given the workforce shortage of dental assistants, this arrangement has become a pain point. Even with a dental assistant available, having an additional person in the room with the patient can limit the patient's interaction with the provider.

For hygienists who manually type the data themselves, cross-contamination of keyboards and glovers as well as the ergonomics of constantly rotating between the patient and the computer become major issues.

The introduction of a voice-enabled digital dental assistant can alleviate all of these pain points to improve both the patient and provider experience. The technology used in Aspen Dental practices, custom-built by Denti.AI, allows providers to speak commands into a microphone that the software then transcribes into the patient's periodontal chart.

Introducing new technology requires a thoughtful training and implementation plan

From a clinician's perspective, for any technology implementation, there are three crucial questions. First, is the technology accurate enough? Second, is the technology fast enough? Third, is the technology easy enough to use? If accuracy, speed, and/or ease of use are compromised, adoption of the technologywill be hampered. To ensure as smooth an implementation as possible, we first focus on an extensice pilot program provided excellent feedback regarding what commands they would find useful andhow the technology could best suit their and their patients' needs. Their input resulted in the addition of time saving voice commands like "bleeding all interproximal".

Rolling out a large-scale adoption of this technology also required a well-planned training program. We created virtual e-learning modules to give an overview of the different commands for the software, and built an interactive knowledge check. The virtual training was useful, but the most beneficial aspect of the program was the shoulder-to-shoulder training hygienists recieved from Aspen Dental hygiene managers. Having another hygienst there to support the new learners greatly increase adoption of the new technology.

Innovative technology enhances efficiencies

For providers, the digital assistant has significantly enhanced both operational effciency and clinical engagement. By delegating administrative tasjs to this technology, dental assistants are free to focus on other patient care duties, and hygienists are able to more fully engage with patients. This technology streamlines the administrative and operational tasks, such as completing periodontal charts, so providers have more time to deliver quality care and educate patients instead of focusing so much on the documentation that comes with it.

As for patients, having the full attention of the hygienist encourages productive conversation. Before the introduction of the digital dental assistant, patients tended to hold back from asking questions because they didn't want to interrupt the hygienist or the dental assistant. Now, patients feel more engaged in codiscovery with the hygienist to better understand their oral health.

While the Denti.AI technology in place at Aspen Dental practices currently encompasses the tasks of a digital dental assistant, there is much room for growth with patient diagnostic softwares in the future. Voice-recognition, X-ray analysis, Auto dental charting, data dashboards, patient health summaries and complete clinical documentation and treatment notes are all on the horizon for AI technology in the dental industry.

Continuing to leverage innovative technology to improve operational and clinical efficiency is key to enhancing provider satisfaction and patient care alike. At Aspen Dental, we strive to implement cutting-edge technologies and techniques to make sure we are expanding access to excellent dental care for as many patients as possible.

If you are looking to get access to hands-on training and lead the way with next-generation technology, check out all of our available jobs today.

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Belangie Perez-Torres, RDH is the Director of Hygiene Strategy and Operations at Aspen Dental®. She began her career as an orthodontic dental assistant, and in 2011, she joined Aspen Dental as a hygienist. She has since migrated to the non-clinical side of the business, focusing on hygiene training, technology implementation, and career development. She strives to set up hygienists to be the best they can be so they can deliver superior patient experiences.