Survival of the fittest

Victoria Forbes, director at Dental Accountants Scotland, discusses AI in practice management… Is it really survival of the fittest

12 February, 2024 / editorial
In association with Dental Accountants Scotland, Victoria Forbes

An artist's impression of AI in the surgery a dentist can see a heads up view of a patient's chart floating infront of him.

Dentist interacting with patient charts using VR to schedule treatment with AI technology for innovate care.

With the unrelenting forward march of AI, we watch with interest how it may impact the world of dentistry. Already we are seeing large-scale investment in its applications, in particular within the areas of treatment planning, practice management and digital dentistry. It shows clear opportunities (and perhaps risks) for the sector, and those ‘second wave’ adoptions are likely to bring enhancement and efficiencies to many areas.

As Darwin said: “It is not the strongest that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” As always, we recommend an open-minded and professionally curious approach to learning and to taking stock of other delivery methods when possible. There will always be a need for strong human clinical input in the profession. However, it would be best if you never ignored ways to improve the outcomes for patients potentially, the dental team and the practice as a whole.

The recent, and final collapse in December of the controversial ‘direct to patient’ model of Smile Direct Club is, perhaps, an example of this, and we encourage the sector to review any learnings available from its collapse. It can perhaps be argued that dental consumers were attracted to the accessibility of their model, clear pricing and guarantees (which are now gone). Is there scope to adapt current practices around your short-term orthodontic services to react to the market findings? The ‘slight edge theory’ in a crowded market requires you to stand out from your competitors. As the cost of living crisis tightens the market for short-term orthodontics, what could you be doing
to make your practice more attractive?