SMARTER TOOLS, STRONGER PRACTICE: HOW SOFTWARE POWERS PRODUCTION GAINS

Managing a full schedule and keeping production on track in a dental practice can feel like a constant juggling act. Patients forget appointments, treatment plans go unscheduled and the front desk is pulled in many directions. The good news? The right software can help. From tools that identify hidden production gaps to those that make it easier for patients to say yes to treatment, the latest platforms give dental teams the support they need to work smarter and boost productivity.

Two leading tools are Pearl Practice Intelligence and Weave. Both leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize clinical and administrative workflows, improve team communication and help practices deliver better care while boosting productivity.

PEARL PRACTICE INTELLIGENCE: AI THAT POWERS PRODUCTIVITY

Founded in 2019, Pearl was created to improve consistency in dental diagnostics. “Our CEO had a background in computer vision and digital advertising, and his father was a dentist,” said Sheela Roth, director of clinical operations at Pearl and a former hygienist. “He recognized the need for more consistency and trust in dentistry and saw an opportunity to apply AI to radiographic diagnostics.”

That mission led to Second Opinion, Pearl’s FDA-approved real-time chairside pathology detection device, which analyzes dental radiographs in real time and highlights common issues with color-coded markers. “As a hygienist, I used to point at a gray area on a radiograph and try to explain the area of concern,” recalled Roth. “Most patients can’t interpret black-and-white radiographs, which often leads to delayed treatment, escalating dental problems from simple fillings to crowns and eventually root canals.”

Second Opinion alters that dynamic. It visually highlights incipient and progressed caries, calculus, bone levels, notable margins and other findings, making it easier for both clinicians and patients to identify areas of concern. This change in the conversation between patient and dentist occurs because patients ask more questions as they understand what they’re viewing, which in turn increases acceptance of treatment earlier.

“Dentistry is becoming increasingly challenging for many team members due to staffing shortages, which can impact the patient experience,” observed Roth. “Oftentimes, teams are just trying to get through the day, but we need to be mindful that our true product is the patient experience. When the entire team is aligned on clinical awareness, it leads to less invasive dentistry, stronger patient education and greater trust, the foundation of long-term patient retention.”

From Imaging to Action: Practice Intelligence

Pearl’s platform extends beyond image analysis. Its Practice Intelligence solution gathers insights from Second Opinion and cross-references them with the practice management system to identify outstanding treatment needs and undiagnosed opportunities based on previous radiographs.

“Practice Intelligence can analyze radiographs to flag potential issues not yetincluded in a patient’s treatment plan,” explained Roth. “For example, if a patient has an incipient lesion on watch, we surface it so the doctor can take a closer look at their appointment. This leads to better clinical care and improved outcomes.”

Colorful markers on the radiograph highlight these findings, alerting providers to issues that are currently undiagnosed. The software also audits charts and highlights radiographic needs and outstanding treatments. “It’s the first time dental companies have displayed practice management data in such a meaningful way, connecting the daily schedule with clear opportunity indicators,” said Roth.

That insight is reflected in a color-coded schedule view, providing each team member with a clear roadmap for the day. “As a hygienist, I used to spend my mornings flipping through charts to prep for the day,” recalled Roth. “Now, that’s all done for them. When everyone knows where the opportunities are, production naturally follows.”

The AI Assistant That Never Sleeps

Pearl’s software is designed to function like a constant virtual team member. “We audit every patient chart before they arrive,” said Roth. “We look at their x-rays and identify any treatment needs without the staff doing a thing. It’s like having an extra set of eyes reviewing every chart, every day.”

That level of automation leads to real-time, high-impact results. “We’re seeing practices generate between $2,000 and $6,000 a week in revenue just from recapturing recently canceled appointments or unscheduled treatment,” noted Roth. “Those opportunities usually get lost in the shuffle, but our software surfaces them so the team can act on them immediately.”

Pearl’s tools work well in both small and large practices, from solo providers to DSOs with hundreds of locations. “Because it’s cloud-based, it doesn’t matter if you’re a three-person team or a thousand-person organization,” Roth said. “Our deployment and training process is simple, customizable and consistent.”

WEAVE: SMARTER COMMUNICATION

While Pearl focuses on clinical productivity, Weave ensures patients stay engaged and practices keep their schedules full. Founded over a decade ago, Weave was the first company to create a communication platform specifically for dental practices.

Weave, which began as a software and hardware solution, quickly evolved into a comprehensive communication stack. Weave’s AI tools help convert more calls into appointments through features like smart caller ID, missed call texts and post-call follow-up suggestions.

“The original innovation was what we called the Call Pop,” explained Marcus Bertilson, COO of Weave. “When a patient called in, the system would display who was calling, their upcoming appointment and whether they had an outstanding balance. That kind of integration changed how practices interacted with patients and laid the foundation for everything we’ve built since.”

Automated appointment reminders and confirmations help reduce no-shows, while two-way texting improves response rates and patient satisfaction. Weave also makes it easy to collect balances and pre-payments by sending secure payment links via text, improving cashflow.

Today, over 35,000 practices rely on Weave as their primary front desk system, managing calls, texts, emails, reminders, reviews and payments from a single dashboard. Its AI-powered features, like missed-call texts and smart caller ID, ensure practices don’t miss out on valuable opportunities. “If a call is missed, the system automatically sends a text, and often that text turns into a booked appointment,” Bertilson said.

For years, the company focused almost exclusively on single-location practices, but within the last year, it launched a platform for DSOs. “We’ve been serving DSOs for many years, but we never really purposely built the product for them,” explained Bertilson.

The DSO platform operates similarly to the software used by individual practices, particularly for phone calls, texting and managing patient interactions. However, Bertilson explained that DSOs require more detailed and advanced analytics across multiple locations, which is precisely what the DSO platform provides. For example, this data helps the DSO understand why one office has better show rates than another. “The main difference is that they need reporting and analytics in a very different way than a single location,” said Bertilson.

When dental practices evaluate software, ROI is always part of the discussion. According to Bertilson, Weave offers value in three main ways: saving staff time, reducing no-shows and speeding up collections.

“Staffing is one of the biggest challenges in dentistry right now,” he said. “With Weave, practices can consolidate multiple vendors into a single platform and automate front desk tasks. That means staff can focus on patient care.” And as an all-in one unified communication platform, Weave can complement the practice’s clinical software. “We believe that is the core of Weave’s value proposition,” said Bertilson.

Practices can pay annually or monthly, depending on the bundle they select and the additional products they choose to use. “The ROI is nearly unbelievable when you plug it into a calculator,” Bertilson noted. “Even just one or two extra appointments a week more than cover the subscription.”

AI-Driven Innovations

Automation has long been part of Weave’s culture, but the company has recently sped up its AI investments. “Even before ChatGPT, we were integrating automation into the product,” said Bertilson. “Now, with LLMs (Large Language Models) and more advanced models, we’ve introduced features like an assistant that drafts emails or texts for staff, saving them time each day.”

One of Weave’s most successful AI-driven products is Call Intelligence, launched in early 2024. It transcribes inbound and outbound calls, summarizes them and even scores them based on sentiment. “It can be used to train your front desk staff on how to handle calls,” said Bertilson. “There’s a gold mine in terms of everything that is being said and asked in these interactions.”

Now, instead of listening to a 15-minute call, an office manager can quickly get a summary of what the patient called about, why they were frustrated and whether it was a billing question or to reschedule an appointment. Adoption has been quick, with Call Intelligence already used by nearly half of Weave’s customer base.

The company’s recent acquisition of TrueLark, an AI-powered receptionist and front desk automation platform, adds another layer of AI innovation to its offerings. “The acquisition will expand Weave’s presence in multilocation practices, where demand for intelligent automation is increasing due to staffing shortages and operational challenges,” said Bertilson. “It will combine Weave’s leadership in healthcare communications with TrueLark’s agentic AI capabilities, unlocking a future of autonomous, intelligent workflows that transform how practices operate, engage patients and grow revenue.”

TrueLark’s conversational AI can manage missed calls, texts and web chats to schedule or reschedule appointments, handle after-hours communication and automate routine administrative tasks, all of which improve front-office performance. “This agentic AI model allows healthcare teams to shift from reactive communication to proactive engagement, making sure every opportunity is captured, even outside of business hours,” said Bertilson.

However, he emphasized that practices aren’t using the solution to replace staff but to enable them to focus on higher-value tasks. It saves hours each week and prevents any opportunities from slipping through the cracks.

“We’ve already started rolling it out to our joint DSO customers and are about to launch it as an embedded feature within the Weave Communications platform in October,” reported Bertilson. “It’s an absolute game changer, both for the patient experience and the practice. Humans will be there to provide great care, and much of the business and interaction with patients on these other matters will be automated.”

WHERE EFFICIENCY MEETS IMPACT

The strength of tools like Pearl and Weave lies in their ability to turn routine tasks into activities that enhance productivity. Pearl identifies opportunities even before the patient arrives, while Weave keeps patients engaged and on schedule. Together, they form a closed-loop system that recognizes, involves and completes more care.

For Roth, the most significant benefit of AI is its ability to save time. “Chart audits, identifying treatment gaps – these are time-consuming tasks we used to do manually,” she said. “Now, AI does it for us, and the team can focus on building relationships with patients.”

Bertilson shares the same perspective regarding Weave. “At the end of the day, dentists don’t go into this profession because they want to manage the day-to-day operations; they want to treat patients. Our purpose is to simplify those day-to-day operations so practices can focus on care.”

WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER

AI and automation are no longer emerging ideas – they’re practical tools already making a measurable difference in dental practices. Solutions like Pearl and Weave help teams work more efficiently, increase treatment acceptance and keep patients engaged, all without adding to the daily workload.

“There was fear at first; people worried that AI would replace them,” said Roth.” But what they’ve found is that AI is here to support them. It’s like spellcheck for dentistry. It doesn’t replace your judgment; it enhances it so that we can deliver better care to more patients.”

“We see ourselves as part of an ecosystem,” added Bertilson. “Pearl is addressing the clinical side, and Weave is handling communication and front desk operations. Together, these systems make practices more efficient, more profitable and ultimately better for patients.”