Chairside radiograph AI

Pearl’s Second Opinion analyses radiographs in real time and highlights suspected caries, calculus, periapical radiolucencies and other findings as the image comes up. It holds around seven FDA-cleared modules and was the first dental AI cleared for both 2D radiographs and 3D CBCT analysis, with a further clearance added for panoramic radiographs covering suspected caries, periapical radiolucencies and impacted third molars.

Its practical advantage is fit: it integrates with more than 30 imaging and practice management platforms — Dexis, Carestream, Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, Curve and others — so overlays appear inside the workflow your team already uses. That matters more than feature counts, because software your nurses have to work around doesn’t get used.

Detection & quantification

Overjet is Pearl’s closest rival and the deeper option on measurement. It holds around ten FDA-cleared modules spanning caries and calculus detection for adult and paediatric patients, periapical radiolucency, automated charting and CBCT segmentation — and it is the only dental AI platform cleared for AI-powered image enhancement.

The quantified bone-level measurements are its signature, and colour-coded annotations shown directly on the radiograph give patients something objective to look at during a treatment conversation. Overjet reports that practices using these visuals see materially higher case acceptance — treat that as a vendor figure, and test it in your own pilot rather than taking it as read.

Multi-condition detection

VideaHealth’s distinguishing feature is breadth of detection across caries, periodontal and other radiographic categories in a single read, backed by multiple FDA clearances and published evaluations of diagnostic accuracy improvements when integrated into routine workflows.

It’s the third serious contender in a genuinely three-horse race, and the honest answer on which to choose is that all three are credible — the decision usually comes down to which integrates cleanly with your imaging software, which your associates find least intrusive, and which your pilot data actually supports.

Phone answering

Dental reception is the most under-resourced part of most practices: the phone rings during treatment, at lunch, and after close, and a new-patient enquiry that hits voicemail usually rings the practice down the road instead. AI receptionists answer 24/7, quote your prices and availability, handle routine questions and capture booking details.

Dental-specific options such as Arini and Peerlogic understand appointment types and practice workflows; general tools like Rosie or Goodcall are cheaper and cover the basics. Whichever you use, route clinical questions and anything urgent straight to a human — an AI should never be triaging dental pain.

Website enquiries

Tidio answers the questions every prospective patient asks before booking — are you taking NHS patients, what does a hygienist appointment cost, do you offer implants or Invisalign, is there parking — and captures contact details from people who’d otherwise close the tab.

Configure it tightly on facts and logistics only. Anything resembling clinical advice should hand off to a person, and be careful that nothing it says could be read as a diagnosis or a treatment promise.

Patient communication

ChatGPT handles the writing a practice never gets to: recall and reactivation letters, post-operative instruction sheets, explaining root canal treatment in language a nervous patient will actually absorb, fee-increase notices, job adverts for a nurse, and staff induction material.

Keep it strictly non-clinical and strictly anonymous. Draft your leaflet about implants in general terms — never paste a specific patient’s history, images or identifiable details into a consumer AI tool. And check every clinical claim in what it produces before it reaches a patient.

Policies & longer documents

Claude is the better tool for the substantial documents a practice has to maintain: CQC evidence folders, practice policies, complaint responses, consent information, risk assessments and staff handbooks — the paperwork that matters and that nobody has an afternoon spare to write.

It’s particularly useful for turning a regulatory requirement you’ve read into a draft policy tailored to how your practice actually runs. Have the principal review everything, and keep patient-identifiable material out of it.

Practice meetings

Otter.ai captures and summarises practice meetings, clinical governance sessions, staff one-to-ones and supplier calls, producing transcripts, summaries and action points — useful evidence for CQC purposes and a lot easier than someone taking minutes.

An important boundary: this is for business meetings, not clinical consultations. Recording patient appointments raises consent, confidentiality and records-management issues well beyond a general transcription tool, and clinical notes belong in your practice management system.

Patient materials & marketing

Canva produces everything patient-facing that isn’t clinical: treatment information leaflets, waiting-room displays, price lists, oral-health guidance for children, referral cards, recruitment adverts and social graphics — all from branded templates.

Good patient information does real clinical work by improving understanding and consent quality, and a practice that looks considered inspires more confidence. Just make sure any clinical content is written or checked by a clinician, not generated wholesale.

Local visibility

Later lets you schedule a month of practice content in one sitting — team introductions, oral health tips, treatment explainers, availability updates — so your local presence stays alive without anyone remembering to post.

Be careful with before-and-after imagery: patient consent must be explicit and documented, and cosmetic dentistry advertising is subject to advertising standards as well as GDC guidance on claims. Educational content generally carries far less risk than results photography.