How AI is impacting dentistry and the dental assistant role
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow rapidly, and its impacts are being seen across many industries.
Dentistry is no exception.
Dental practices of all sizes are implementing AI in various ways to improve efficiency, productivity, communication, and more. But the adoption of AI in dentistry has only just begun — and dental assistants will play a critical role in the process.
In a survey conducted by DANB in May 2025, one in three dental assistants reported that their practices currently use AI tools in some fashion. While AI use in dentistry is not yet universal, it is having a sizable impact already. With technology evolving constantly, it has the potential to transform the industry in the future as more practices implement it.
The possibilities are seemingly endless, and that’s why DANB brought together AI and dentistry leaders for a summit in September 2025. Participants had dynamic discussions that explored current and future applications of AI across all facets of dentistry, sharing their perspectives on how the technology is currently being used and where it’s headed.
“What’s really exciting is the speed at which [AI] is improving, the speed at which new applications are coming up, and the innovation that’s coming up that we haven’t even thought about,” said Rushi Ganmukhi, CEO, Bola AI.
Dr. Bari Posner, Clinical Ambassador at Overjet, is excited about the ways in which AI can improve the experience for dental patients.
“My passion is patient experience,” explains Posner. “I’ve been in dentistry for over 30 years, so whatever I can do to improve a patient’s experience is what I love.”
Here are some of the ways AI is already being used in dentistry, from creating better patient experiences to improving efficiency in practices.
Radiography
Following the lead set by the medical field, more and more dental practices are using AI in an area all dental assistants are involved in: radiography.
Among the dental assistants who said their office uses AI, 60% said their practice has implemented these tools for use in radiography. AI can be used to help dental assistants take better images and chart the results quickly and accurately. For doctors, AI can interpret and analyze radiographs, helping to diagnose conditions such as cavities or gum disease. The technology can also generate reports and visualizations that help patients better understand their diagnosis.
“Not only are you getting a second opinion right away for the patient, but the patient’s also able to see, in color, what we see,” says Dr. Farai Kambasha, Senior Clinical Director for Doctor Education at Heartland Dental. “That gives a lot more confidence to the patient. It gives them an ability to make a decision about their own health without blindly trusting the doctor. It also gives our team members — our assistants, our hygienists — the ability to show a patient and talk to them.”
“Not only are you getting a second opinion right away for the patient, but the patient’s also able to see, in color, what we see. That gives a lot more confidence to the patient. It gives them an ability to make a decision about their own health without blindly trusting the doctor. It also gives our team members — our assistants, our hygienists — the ability to show a patient and talk to them.”
— Dr. Farai Kambasha
AI-assisted radiographs also give dentists more consistent information, leaving less room for interpretation among different doctors when making diagnoses. This can be especially important for large practices or dental service organizations (DSOs) with many providers.
“It gives us a consistency among providers that wasn’t there before,” says Posner. “I know when my associate is treating a patient, the associate is going to say the same thing I’m going to say. Or, I know when I walk into a room after a hygienist has told a patient about an area of interest, I’ll support my hygienist and not disagree with her.”
Scheduling and communications
Clear and effective communication with patients is critical for dental practices. The dental team must schedule appointments, send appointment reminders, verify insurance information, answer questions, and follow up after procedures — in addition to the in-office communication that occurs daily. Some offices are using AI to prevent gaps in communication with patients and free up employees to manage other tasks.
AI can not only manage some aspects of communication, but it can also improve it by providing faster response times, speaking to a person in their preferred language, analyzing a patient’s previous notes, and personalizing responses for each patient. As the team member who is often the first and last person a patient talks to during a visit, a dental assistant can use AI tools to speak with confidence when answering questions or providing post-appointment information.
“When patients call, or when we call them, we know how to talk to them,” says Farid Fadaie, CEO of Viva AI. “We know who that patient is, the last topic that they brought up — we can pick it up from there.”
Fadaie has found that not only are patients happier with this approach, but so is the dental staff.
“We give them the time back to do what they love to do — to focus on the patient while they’re in the office,” says Fadaie. “That’s the thing that AI will never, ever replace.”
Charting and documentation
From patient charts and treatment records to appointment notes, radiographic findings, and consent forms, dental offices file many types of documents. And this can be tedious and time-consuming.
AI software can also help in this aspect, saving the dental team time by transcribing and structuring voice notes, analyzing x-rays, ensuring consistent and accurate records, and more. It can also identify any treatment, such as x-rays or an oral cancer screening, the patient may need ahead of their appointment.
“It will highlight all of that stuff so nobody has to go through and actually do chart preps manually anymore. The AI will do that for you,” explains Kambasha.
Robert Gomez, Senior Clinical Applications Manager of Epic Applications at PDS Health, is currently overseeing a project that can summarize a patient’s history in seconds.
“It summarizes a patient’s previous notes over the last three years, up to 30 notes, to prep before the patient comes in,” says Gomez. “The nice part about leveraging Epic is it also pulls in outside patient notes. So if the patient went to the emergency room or they had an inpatient visit, it consolidates that into a summary that would take the average provider about 17 minutes in about 15 seconds.”
Dental assistants’ role in AI
As more practices implement AI tools, dental assistants will be a critical part of the process.
The most common applications for AI in dentistry — radiographs, communication, and charting — are areas where dental assistants are heavily involved. To ensure the successful adoption of AI, dental assistants must be involved in the implementation process and be trained to use it confidently.
“AI’s influence on healthcare is accelerating, including its impact on dentistry,” said DANB CEO Laura Skarnulis. “Dental assistants are integral to the dental practice, and their understanding, skill and support of AI are central to its adoption and success.”
Looking ahead
Although many practices aren’t using AI yet — whether due to doctors who are resisting it, a lack of perceived benefits, cost, or security concerns — it isn’t going anywhere. Some early adopters, like Gomez, encourage practices to embrace AI so they aren’t left behind.
“We’re either going to adapt with the times and leverage the tools, or we’re going to become the next Blockbuster or Tower Records,” believes Gomez. “We really want to be able to set ourselves apart, and patients want that distinction. They want to know that we offer the best and that we don’t hold back. I think AI gives us that opportunity.”
As AI continues to develop, more possibilities will arise, providing dental practices with opportunities to improve care, see more patients, streamline workflows, and more.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of creativity and things that we can’t even imagine today that will come out in the next five years,” said Ganmukhi.
It will also become more commonplace in dental practices, predicts Kambasha, and it will make life easier for everyone on the dental team.
“Those things are going to be more ubiquitous in the next 3-5 years, and we’re starting to see it crop up now,” says Kambasha. “We’re starting to get pilots for these things and seeing how they work and how much of a workload it’s going to take off of our front desk, our hygienists, and our dental assistants — just taking a lot of stuff off the table for them so they can focus on the patients.”
Although AI will likely change dentistry significantly in the coming years, it won’t undermine the importance of a human touch — one of the most important aspects of a dental assistant’s role.
“The thing that AI is really bad at is creating the human connection, the trust, with the patient and answering questions in an empathetic way,” says Fadaie. “AI can pretend to do that. But the fact that there is a human behind the answers the patient is getting — that’s the feeling causing trust to be built. That will never happen with a faceless AI.”