How dental practices are using AI in 2026

AI is no longer a future topic for dental practices. In 2026, more than four in ten U.S. dentists use AI for at least one task, according to the ADA Health Policy Institute. Most of that use is not robots or futuristic treatment planning. It is software that reads X-rays, answers phones, writes clinical notes and chases insurance.

This guide pulls together what practices are actually doing, drawn from ADA research, industry surveys, dental trade publications, vendor case studies, and what dentists are sharing on YouTube and podcasts. For each use, you will find what the tools do, what practices report, and the questions to ask before you buy.

How many dental practices use AI?

The most reliable U.S. figure comes from the ADA Health Policy Institute. In its mid-2026 survey, 43.3% of dentists said they use AI for at least one task in their practice, and another 26.4% said they plan to. A separate 2026 survey of 300 dentists in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. by Dental Reviewed found 32% using at least one AI tool, with another 38% actively considering it.

Adoption is not spread evenly. Large DSOs adopted first, often rolling out AI imaging across hundreds of offices at once, while solo practices are further behind. And dentists draw a clear line between administrative help and clinical judgment: fewer than 5% use AI for treatment recommendations, and most say they do not plan to.

The biggest growth is expected on the business side. Among dentists who plan to start using AI, the most common plans are charting and note taking (34.8%) and insurance verification (32.6%), ahead of imaging (25.4%).

1. Reading X-rays with AI

Radiograph analysis is the most common use of AI in dentistry. In the Dental Reviewed survey, 82% of dentists who use AI use it for imaging. The software reviews bitewings, periapicals, panoramics and in some cases CBCT scans, then highlights likely decay, calculus, bone loss, periapical lesions and existing restorations on screen.

The main platforms are Overjet, Pearl (Second Opinion) and VideaHealth, all of which hold FDA 510(k) clearances for specific findings. Pearl added a clearance for panoramic X-rays in late 2025, and VideaHealth has rolled out across large groups such as Dentalcorp and Mosaic Dental Collective.

Practices use it in two ways:

• As a second set of eyes. In the clinical data VideaHealth submitted for FDA clearance, dentists using the AI missed 43% fewer caries lesions.
• As a patient education tool. Color-coded findings on the patient's own X-ray make treatment easier to understand. Vendors claim case acceptance rises 15% to 25%, and 44% of AI users in the Dental Reviewed survey reported better acceptance. Treat these as vendor and self-reported figures, not independent studies.

What it costs. Expect a monthly subscription, often in the range of $300 to $600 per location for radiograph AI, with setup fees and bundled pricing for larger groups.

What dentists say. Practitioner comments in the ADA research and on dental webinars and podcasts are mixed. Many like the consistency and the patient conversations it enables. Others report false positives and say every image still needs a dentist's review. The tool assists the diagnosis; it does not make it.

2. Answering phones and booking appointments

The fastest-growing category is the AI receptionist: a voice agent that answers calls, handles common questions, and books appointments straight into the practice management system. About one in ten dentists already use AI for front desk work, according to the ADA.

The pitch is simple. Missed calls are missed patients. Vendors cite front desks missing roughly a third of calls during business hours, and many new-patient calls come in after hours. An AI agent answers every call, 24 hours a day, and can text back anyone who hangs up.

The main dental-specific options include Arini, Viva, Weave's AI Receptionist (built on TrueLark, which Weave acquired in 2025) and Dental Intelligence's Annie. Most integrate with Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental and Denticon, and with common dental phone systems.

What practices report. Vendor case studies claim missed calls drop by up to 80% and call answer rates reach 90% or higher. Those are marketing figures, so measure your own baseline first: how many calls you get, how many you miss, and how many new-patient calls turn into appointments.

Where it struggles. Complex insurance questions, upset patients and true emergencies still need a person. The best setups use AI for overflow, after-hours and simple scheduling, with clear handoffs to staff. For a deeper look at the numbers, see our guide to converting more dental phone calls into appointments.

3. Writing clinical notes and perio charts by voice

Documentation is the use most dentists want next. In the ADA survey, 34.8% of dentists who do not yet use AI plan to use it for charting and note taking, the top planned use of any category.

Two types of tools are in play:

• Voice perio charting. The hygienist calls out pocket depths, bleeding and recession, and the software fills in the chart in real time. That removes the need for a second person in the room, which matters in a hygienist shortage.
• Ambient AI scribes. The software listens to the whole visit and drafts the clinical note, treatment summary and referral letters, then writes them into the practice management system for the provider to review.

Bola AI and Overjet Voice are two of the best-known dental options. Overjet bought DentalBee and released Overjet Voice broadly in January 2026, then added hands-free hard tissue charting in August 2026. Bola integrates with Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, Curve and others.

What practices report. Vendors claim five or more hours a week saved per office, fewer notes finished at home at night, and fewer insurance denials because narratives are more complete. Hygienists and office managers quoted in case studies mostly point to not needing an extra pair of hands during perio exams.

What to check. Ambient tools record patient conversations, so ask how audio is stored, how long it is kept, and whether the vendor will sign a business associate agreement. Some states also require patient consent before recording. The provider still has to review and sign every note.

4. Verifying insurance and working claims

Insurance verification is where many office managers say AI pays for itself fastest. Checking benefits by phone and payer portal can take a quarter of an hour per patient, and errors lead straight to denials and surprise patient balances. The ADA found 13.6% of dentists already use AI for verification, and 32.6% of non-users plan to.

The tools work ahead of the appointment. They pull eligibility and code-level benefit details from hundreds of payers, write them into the patient record, and flag problems before the patient arrives. Newer "AI agent" products go further, building claims from clinical notes and X-rays, following up on claim status, drafting appeals and posting payments.

Options include Overjet Insurance Verification, VideaHealth's AutoVerify (launched January 2026), and RCM-focused startups such as Toothy and Foji, alongside verification features inside phone and practice management platforms.

What practices report. Vendors claim 20 to 40 hours of staff time saved per practice each week, and VideaHealth claims up to 50% fewer denials. Independent data is thin, but the math is easy to test: count how many verifications your team does each week and how long each takes.

For fee-for-service practices. If you are out of network, verification matters less, but claim filing on the patient's behalf, attachments and follow-up still eat front desk time. Look for tools that handle out-of-network claims and patient reimbursement, not just PPO eligibility.

5. Patient communication, reviews and marketing

The easiest place to start with AI is often the cheapest: general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, plus the AI features already built into patient communication platforms. About one in ten dentists use AI for social media, and 13.2% use it to help explain clinical findings to patients, according to the ADA.

Common uses include:

• Patient messages. Drafting recall texts, post-op instructions, treatment plan summaries in plain language, and replies to online reviews.
• Marketing content. Blog posts, social media captions, short videos and graphics. Dental marketing webinars and podcasts, such as those hosted by My Social Practice, now regularly demo image and video tools for practice content.
• Practice analytics. Platforms such as Dental Intelligence and Practice by Numbers use AI to flag unscheduled treatment, overdue recall and production trends.

A newer concern is AI search. More patients now ask ChatGPT or Google's AI answers for a dentist recommendation, and a 2026 report from 5W Research found that directories, not practices, dominate the sources those answers cite. Keeping your Google Business Profile, website and reviews complete and current is the practical response.

What to watch. Never paste patient names or health details into a consumer AI tool that has not signed a business associate agreement. Read everything AI writes before it goes to a patient, and keep marketing claims within your state board's advertising rules.

6. AI built into your practice management software

The biggest shift in 2026 is that AI is moving inside the practice management system (PMS) itself. Instead of buying separate tools and connecting them, practices can increasingly switch on AI that already sits in the software they use every day.

Here is where the major systems stand:

• Dentrix Ascend. Henry Schein One relaunched Ascend in three tiers in March 2026. The entry tier includes AI voice notes, and higher tiers add AI eligibility checks and expanded AI. Ascend now embeds imaging AI that reviews each X-ray as it is taken, flags retakes and highlights possible findings. It also includes revenue cycle agents that can call payers, AI review responses, and tracking of how the practice shows up in AI search. Some features, including Jarvis analytics and Bola perio charting, are still separate paid add-ons.
• Curve Dental. In July 2026, Curve launched Curve Care+, a built-in voice AI suite for clinical notes, charting and perio. Curve also integrates Pearl's X-ray AI and Bola's voice charting.
• tab32 and CareStack. Both cloud platforms market AI-assisted charting and diagnostics, with tab32 integrating Pearl's X-ray detection.
• Open Dental. There is no built-in AI, but its open API makes it the easiest system to connect third-party AI tools to.
• Eaglesoft and Dentrix desktop. These server-based systems rely mainly on third-party AI tools connected through vendor integration programs.

The case for built-in AI. One login, one vendor agreement covering patient data, no double entry, and AI that already sees your schedule, ledger and charts. It is often cheaper as part of a bundle than as a separate subscription.

The case for separate tools. Specialist vendors have usually been at it longer, and in imaging, phones and verification their products are typically more mature than a PMS vendor's first version. Built-in AI also deepens lock-in, making it harder to switch systems later. Watch for AI sold as a higher tier, where the headline price excludes the features you actually want.

What PMS analytics can and can't tell you

Many PMS vendors now promise AI-driven insights into practice performance and profitability. Those dashboards are genuinely useful, but they share one limit: they only see what lives in the PMS. That means production, collections, the schedule and the chart. Most never see your P&L, payroll, rent, supply costs, debt or taxes, and profit lives in those numbers.

In short, PMS AI tells you what happened in the schedule and the chart. It takes someone who sees the whole financial picture to tell you why it happened and what to do about it. The two work best together: the PMS surfaces the signal, and a financial review turns it into decisions on pricing, staffing, overhead and growth.

Where Chairside fits

That financial review is the work Chairside Advisors does. We start from the same practice management data your AI tools read, a multi-year export of production, collections, the schedule and treatment plans, and join it to the numbers they never see: your P&L, payroll by role, overhead and debt. That is what answers the right-hand column of the table above: why profit moved, whether an associate or a PPO plan is paying its way, and what the practice is worth.

From there, every finding becomes a step with an owner, a date and a dollar figure, tracked against your own baseline. It changes how you buy technology, too. Instead of adding AI tools and hoping, you start with the bottleneck that costs the most, set the baseline, and check 90 days later whether the tool moved it. If you want to see what your PMS data is not telling you, book a call.

What to do

Before signing up for a standalone AI tool, ask your PMS vendor what is already included in your plan, what sits in a higher tier, and what is on the roadmap for the next 12 months. Then compare the built-in option against the best specialist tool for your biggest bottleneck. Our guide to the best dental practice management software covers how the major systems compare.

For the questions in the right-hand column, start with your own numbers. Our dental practice valuation calculator and our guide to whether your associate is making you money are good first steps.

What works, what's OK, and what still needs work

The honest answer depends on the evidence, and its quality varies a lot by tool. X-ray AI has peer-reviewed studies behind it. Ambient scribes have large medical studies but little dental-specific data. Phone, insurance and marketing tools rely mostly on vendor case studies and what dentists say in forums. Here is how each use stacks up on the evidence available in 2026.

Works decently

X-ray caries detection. This is the best-studied use. A 2024 meta-analysis in the Japanese Dental Science Review found AI caught about 87% of caries on bitewings and correctly cleared about 89% of healthy surfaces. A second 2024 meta-analysis in the Journal of Dentistry put sensitivity for between-the-teeth caries at 94%. For comparison, earlier studies found dentists reading bitewings alone catch only a quarter to a third of these lesions, though they rarely flag a healthy tooth. The caveats are real: AI is noticeably weaker on early enamel lesions (about 71% sensitivity), most studies carry a high risk of bias, and few were tested on outside data.

Insurance verification. Pulling eligibility and benefits is a repetitive, rules-based task, and the output is easy to check against the payer. That makes it a good fit for automation, and office managers consistently rank it among the most useful tools. Independent studies are lacking, so measure your own hours saved.

Voice perio charting. Calling out pocket depths is a narrow, structured vocabulary, which suits voice recognition. The clearest benefit practices report is charting without a second person in the room.

OK, with caveats

Ambient clinical notes. The best evidence comes from medicine. A large study published in JAMA in April 2026 found ambient scribes cut documentation time, though by modest amounts. In a 2026 survey of over 1,000 UK family doctors, 80% of users said the tools reduced documentation time, but 32% said errors happened often or always, and 14% had seen errors with significant consequences. A 2025 study found ambient notes contained invented content more often than notes written by physicians. Dental-specific independent data is still thin, so every note needs a careful read before signing.

AI receptionists. They reliably help with after-hours calls and simple booking. Beyond that, reports are split. Some practices describe recovered appointments, while dentists on Dentaltown and Reddit describe patients hanging up on the robot voice, repeating their name and birthdate, and confident wrong answers. Emergencies, complex insurance questions and upset patients still go badly. Treat vendor claims cautiously and trial with a clear handoff to staff.

Patient education and case acceptance. Showing patients color-coded findings on their own X-rays is popular, and 44% of AI users in the Dental Reviewed survey reported better case acceptance. Those are self-reported numbers; no independent study yet confirms the vendors' 15% to 25% claims.

Marketing and messages. General AI tools are good at first drafts of posts, recall texts and review replies. Unedited, the output tends to sound generic, and it can state things that are wrong or break advertising rules.

AI built into the PMS. Most native AI features launched in 2025 and 2026, so there is little track record yet. Early versions tend to cover the same ground as specialist tools with less depth. The convenience is real, and it should improve quickly, but judge each feature on its own rather than assuming built-in means better.

Needs improvement

• Treatment recommendations. Fewer than 5% of dentists use AI for this, and 82.6% say they do not plan to. The concern is misdiagnosis and overtreatment, and nothing in the evidence yet answers it.
• Early lesions and false positives. Weaker accuracy on enamel caries means more borderline flags. Without a dentist's judgment, that is how AI could push practices toward treatment that is not needed.
• Unreviewed notes. No ambient tool is accurate enough to sign without reading.
• Proof of ROI. Almost every return-on-investment figure in dental AI comes from the vendor selling it. Independent before-and-after data from real practices is the biggest gap in the field.

What AI costs, and how to judge the return

Most dental AI is sold as a monthly subscription per location. Radiograph AI commonly runs a few hundred dollars a month per office, and phone, documentation and verification tools are usually quote-based, with setup fees and discounts for bundles or multi-year terms. Five subscriptions at a few hundred dollars each quickly becomes a five-figure annual line item.

Almost every vendor publishes an ROI figure, and almost none of them are independent. The practical approach is to measure your own numbers before and after:

• Phones: missed call rate, new-patient calls booked, after-hours calls.
• Imaging: treatment presented, case acceptance and production per hygiene visit.
• Documentation: time spent on notes after hours, perio exams done without an assistant.
• Insurance: staff hours on verification, denial rate, days in accounts receivable.

If a tool cannot move one of these numbers within 90 days, cancel it. Our article on the best dental practice management software covers how AI tools connect to your core system.

The risks dentists raise

• Accuracy. Dentists in the ADA survey reported false positives in radiograph AI, and one estimated the accuracy they experienced at around 30%. Experience varies widely by product and image quality.
• Overtreatment. The ADA notes that fear of misdiagnosis and overtreatment drives much of dentists' hesitation. Be wary of any tool sold mainly on the extra treatment it will find.
• Privacy. Any tool that touches patient data needs a signed business associate agreement under HIPAA. Ambient tools that record visits add consent and storage questions.
• Liability. The diagnosis and treatment plan remain the dentist's responsibility, whatever the software flags.
• Subscription creep. Several tools that overlap, with no one owning the workflow, save nothing. Start with one problem and one tool.

The ADA Standards Program is developing "AI model fact labels" for dentistry, a standard way for vendors to disclose how a model was trained and validated. Until it arrives, ask vendors for their validation data directly.

How to start using AI in your practice

1. Pick the bottleneck, not the tool. Ask your team where time goes: phones, verification, notes or treatment presentation. Start with the one that costs the most.
2. Measure the baseline. Record the relevant numbers for at least a month before you sign anything, so you can tell whether the tool works.
3. Check integration first. Confirm the tool reads from and writes to your practice management system and imaging software. A tool that needs double entry rarely survives.
4. Get the paperwork right. Require a business associate agreement, ask where data is stored, and check FDA clearance for any clinical tool. For voice tools, confirm your state's recording consent rules.
5. Run a 60 to 90 day trial. Negotiate a short pilot or an exit clause, assign one team member to own it, and train everyone who touches it.
6. Review against your baseline. Keep what moves the number, cancel what doesn't, then move to the next bottleneck.

Frequently asked questions

How are dentists using AI?

Mostly for imaging and administration. The ADA Health Policy Institute found 43.3% of dentists use AI for at least one task in 2026. The most common use is X-ray analysis (22.8%), followed by insurance verification, explaining findings to patients, social media, analytics and front desk work. Fewer than 5% use it for treatment recommendations.

Is dental AI FDA approved?

Radiograph analysis tools from companies including Overjet, Pearl and VideaHealth hold FDA 510(k) clearances for specific findings, such as caries, calculus and bone level measurement. Clearance covers the listed uses only, so check what a product is cleared for. Phone, scheduling and billing tools are not medical devices and are not FDA cleared.

How much does AI cost for a dental practice?

Most tools are monthly subscriptions per location. Radiograph AI often costs a few hundred dollars a month per office. Phone, documentation and insurance tools are usually priced by quote, depending on call volume, providers and locations.

Will AI replace dental front desk staff?

Not in most practices. AI handles overflow calls, after-hours booking and repetitive verification, which frees staff for patients in the office, complex insurance questions and treatment coordination. Many practices use it to cope with hiring shortages rather than to cut headcount.

Is AI in dentistry HIPAA compliant?

It can be, but compliance depends on the vendor and how you use it. Any tool that handles patient information should sign a business associate agreement. Do not enter patient details into free consumer AI tools.

Does my dental practice management software have AI?

Increasingly, yes. Dentrix Ascend and Curve Dental now include built-in AI for X-ray review, voice notes, charting and insurance work, often in higher-priced tiers. tab32 and CareStack market AI-assisted charting. Open Dental has no built-in AI but connects easily to third-party tools. Ask your vendor what your current plan includes before buying a separate tool.

AI is a tool, so judge it by the numbers

The practices getting real value from AI are not the ones with the most subscriptions. They picked one costly bottleneck, measured it, and chose a tool that fixed it. That discipline matters more than which vendor you pick.

Chairside Advisors helps dental practices find where time and profit leak out of the business, then decide which fixes, including technology, are worth paying for.

AI shows you what happened. We show you why.

Your practice software sees the schedule and the chart, not your P&L. We join the two so you know which bottleneck is costing the most, and whether a new tool is actually paying for itself.

Sources

• Dentists' AI usage and attitudes (July 2026), ADA Health Policy Institute
• Dental Reviewed 2026 AI survey, Oral Health Group
• 2026 Dental AI Visibility Report, 5W Research
• VideaHealth FDA clearance and missed-caries data, Fierce Biotech
• Dental diagnostic AI platforms and pricing, 2026, Rework
• Overjet pricing offer, Glidewell
• AI receptionist software landscape, 2026, Viva
• Overjet Voice general availability (January 2026), Overjet
• Hard tissue and natural voice perio charting (August 2026), Overjet
• Voice charting, Bola AI
• VideaHealth AutoVerify launch (January 2026), Business Wire
• AI insurance verification, Overjet
• AI tools for dentists webinar, My Social Practice
• AI caries detection on bitewings, meta-analysis (2024), Ammar and Kühnisch
• Journal of Dentistry meta-analysis on approximal caries (2024), Dental Tribune
• Stage-specific AI caries detection review, Caries Research
• JAMA ambient scribe study (April 2026), 2 Minute Medicine
• UK GP survey on ambient AI scribes (2026), Blease et al.
• Accuracy and safety of AI scribe technology (2025), JMIR
• Dentist experiences with AI receptionists, Dentaltown
• Reddit reports on AI receptionists in dental offices, Swiss Monkey
• Built-in AI features, Dentrix Ascend
• PMS comparison and Ascend tiers (2026), Dental Practice Insider
• PMS comparison including AI and add-on pricing, Oryx
• Curve Care+ launch (July 2026), PR Newswire via Webull
• tab32 and Pearl partnership, Business Wire
• AI integration with Dentrix, Open Dental and Eaglesoft, Mentera