AI on Deck: Extra Eyes When It Counts

Long before AI became the force in dentistry it is today, Kwane Watson, DMD, founder and CEO of Kare Mobile, saw what cutting-edge technology could do for a practice. Kare Mobile is a van-based DSO serving underserved rural communities across 6 states—a remote model that has always carried distinct challenges.

Those same challenges made Dr. Watson an early mover in dental AI, piloting emerging technology for dental companies and quickly recognizing the necessity of AI and cloud-based platforms like Ascend.

"Ascend tools help my team work more efficiently," he shared, "largely because the tools save valuable time compared with completing tasks manually. If you want clinical and practice growth in an increasingly complex dental world, this platform definitely helps a practice become more time efficient."

Dentrix has been a stable market leader in dental software for 4 decades, said April Lowry, Executive Director of Clinical/AI Products at Henry Schein One. "The platform was built to unify clinical, operational, fi nancial, and patient-engagement workfl ows—all in one place," she added. "AI is embedded in all of our primary workflows, which means no extra logins or data syncs. Especially for DSO customers, it offers standardized workflows, centralized data, role-based controls, and the same clinical quality across providers."

An Extra Set of Eyes

Dr. Watson, who practices in KY, GA, TN, OH, MI, and OK, brought Ascend into his mobile practice in 2018. Since then he's added a range of tools, including Dentrix Detect AI and Eligibility Pro.

Powered by VideaHealth, Detect AI uses FDA-cleared algorithms to identify dental caries and interproximal bone loss directly on digital X-rays, flagging areas of concern with easy-to-understand, color-coded graphics.

"Detect AI is very meticulous, and it consistently finds things," Dr. Watson shared. "It brings my eyes to potential issues, and the color-coding allows patients to see things in a way they can more easily comprehend and accept."

For all that Dr. Watson leans on the tool, though, he isn’t worried it will replace the human side of dentistry. Lowry frames it the same way: Detect AI isn't about replacing clinical judgment.

"It's about making that judgment more consistent, more defensible, and easier for patients to understand," she continued. "Patients don't always accept what is difficult for them to understand, so this tool helps create a level of trust while also solving the problem of consistency across providers. It provides a level of clarity that leads to patient trust in the dentist's diagnosis."

Curb the Paperwork with an Extra Set of Hands

Eligibility Pro gathers patients' insurance benefit information from multiple sources, including insurance portals, and automatically loads it into their records.

Dr. Watson and his team use it during their morning huddles, where they review patient eligibility and plan treatment.

"Eligibility Pro provides breakdowns instantaneously, and for us, time is everything," Dr. Watson said. "If patient information has changed, we can update the file before treatment, and we know we're charging the appropriate amount because we have up-to-date insurance data."

Patients also complete their forms online before the visit—a second time-saver that provides a complete health picture and eliminates paper forms.

"These 2 solutions are wins for both patients and clinicians," added Lowry. "Patients receive the preventive treatment they need and practices get to use one platform for everything, which eliminates multiple logins or different windows, both of which are barriers to streamlined workflows. The hardest thing for practices to solve isn't software features, it's the workflow."

Fueling a Practice That's Everywhere

For Dr. Watson, Detect AI and Eligibility Pro are essential to running an efficient practice—especially one spread across vans and locations in multiple states pro-viding much-needed dental care."

We could not function without a cloud-based platform like Ascend," he said. "Kare Mobile is only effective because we have the interconnectivity that allows us to communicate and collaborate. The AI tools are magical for us. I have clinicians and hygienists on these vans in different geographic areas of the country on a daily basis, and the tools give me confidence that we're working efficiently and maintaining consistency in our treatment planning and front-office processes."