Episode : #1,225: Your Practice’s Fairy Godmother Is Here, and Her Name’s AI

Podcast Description

Special guest Sheela Roth, director of clinical operations at Pearl AI, is on the show! Sheela talks with Kiera about how practices can best incorporate AI into the patient journey (as a co-pilot, not a human replacement). Whether you’re hesitant or gung-ho about using AI, there are areas in your practice that can only improve with automation, and Sheela and Kiera talk through the pros and cons of them.

Episode resources:

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Schedule a Practice Assessment

Leave us a review

Transcript:

Kiera (00:00)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and today is an exciting day. I’m obsessed with this company. I rave about them. They are coming in with even more force and vigor, and it’s great. I’m obsessed with Pearl. They are doing so many good things. They have been on our podcast before, and I’m so excited to have Sheela here. Sheela has a very strong clinical background, so I’m excited to chat shop on all things clinical with AI coming in. Pearl AI. You guys know them, you love them. And if you don’t know them, it’s gonna be a great time. So, Sheela, welcome to the podcast today. How are you?

Sheela Roth (00:29)

Excellent. I’m doing great, Kiera. Thanks for having me. excited to be here and and talk to you and your your audience about where we’re going in AI today.

Kiera (00:37)

I love it. AI, I think, is so I want to come up with like a catchy phrase and I

Sheela Roth (00:43)

Okay.

Kiera (00:43)

haven’t like made it punchy enough, but like accelerated innovation or like already like people are either on the accelerated innovation. I need to like really make this punchy, or it’s like this scared out of my mind and I’m not gonna touch it. And I don’t have like quite an AI version over there of like anxious.

Intellect, maybe I don’t know. It’s not

Sheela Roth (01:06)

Yes.

Kiera (01:07)

intellect, it’s like that, like anxious, like they’re so freaking scared of AI, or they’re like on this accelerated innovation and they’re taking it with with stride. So I feel like we got two camps that are listening and I feel like so excited to educate them on what is Pearl AI. I mean, I’m we’re on the road with you guys quite often sharing and talking about it. But Sheela, some of the listeners maybe have never met you. Tell us a little bit about your background, how you got into Pearl, and then I’m gonna work on my punchy AI analogy over here.

if people are listening to you on that.

Sheela Roth (01:35)

Yes, it is a great

start though because you’re right. You’re you’re in one of two camps. You’re either embracing or you’re, you know, resenting, if you will, or maybe a little curious. So maybe maybe artificial interest, right? That could be one. Yes. Yes.

Kiera (01:49)

Hey, there we go. Or anxious interest. Maybe it’s the anxious interest

and the like accelerated innovation. I like it.

Sheela Roth (01:56)

I love it. Well,

yes, again, excited to be here. I am currently head of clinical education at Pearl. This is my sixth year here. I think the interesting part for me that’s been so much fun is being able to see all different aspects of the practice. And as I still actually consult for my practice I’ve been in for 25 years on Saturdays, I have actually been able to work with different AI parts of the practice and

really understand how it’s helping us. So as a as an assistant back in the day, moving into hygiene, what I learned as a hygienist was the true nuggets behind practice growth. So started a consulting company and then ended up working for Pearl. So I’m really happy to be here, but also really happy to share about the truth and the myths. That’s really, I think, would satisfy both of those camps.

Kiera (02:49)

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I did throw it into AI. I think we nailed it. They said anxious interest and accelerated innovation. So I think that that’s a fun, like we did it on our own. We didn’t even need AI on that. The anxious interest is a really

Sheela Roth (03:01)

Ha ha ha.

Kiera (03:02)

good one and the accelerated innovation. and I really do think that that kind of bridges the two camps out there. I think I’m like anxious interest. I don’t think I’m accelerated by any stretch, but I’m starting and I do agree that we need that middle of like already.

Interested, like maybe that’s it, the anxious interest, the already interested, or the accelerated interest. Like maybe those

Sheela Roth (03:24)

Yes.

Kiera (03:25)

are the three we’ve got. because I do think it’s gonna be really fun to talk. And I will say, dentists listening, please and team members, get on the bandwagon of AI. You are gonna get dated so freaking fast. Like I thought about it and I’m like, man, this is how business owners felt when the internet hit. Like, this is how they felt

Sheela Roth (03:42)

Yeah.

Kiera (03:42)

because they’ve been doing

like I was seeing this reel the other day and this girl was like, gosh, where was Claude when I did my last practice transition? And I thought about that and I’m like, can you imagine dentists? And some of you listening are those dentists, so please like let me know if I’m on track. But like working where yellow pages and billboards and like

Sheela Roth (04:00)

Ha ha.

Kiera (04:01)

commercials were the main shebang. And then the internet hit and you were like, yeah, that’s never gonna take over. Like, we’re just gonna stick to trying and true. And then you’re like, wow,

Sheela Roth (04:09)

Yes.

Kiera (04:09)

nobody’s finding me because everybody’s on the internet. Like, what is that?

And now us we’re like, well, we’re on the internet and we podcast, we do this. And I’m like, yeah, AI’s whooping our tish. Like, you got to get over there because AI, I mean, you’re hearing 40, 50 million dollar companies have five employees and 40 bots. Now you can be a purist and say, Well, I only want employees, and I’m gonna say you’re a purist that’s about to go out. Like, I am not here to get rid of employees. I am very much here to say that like hashtag post-COVID hiring has been a beast. A lot of people haven’t been working.

A lot of people don’t want to work anymore. The industry shifted, like hiring people are Gen Z coming in who don’t want to work all the time. Like, no shade to the Gen Z. It’s just we are living in a completely unprecedented time with employees wanting to work in offices that I’m like, AI is here to serve, AI is here to help. And I do believe, like the other day, I’m like, I think I’m sitting in the day and age where yellow pages went to the internet and now internet has gone to AI. So welcome. I think it’s fun. Sheela, though, you know a lot more than I do. So take it away.

Sheela Roth (05:13)

Well, that’s such a a great way to start as well. You know, we we talk about this in and I’m sure every dentist and hygienist, any

team member on the call has heard. Remember when we used to dip the radiographs and then we never thought we’d go to digital and here we are in AI, right?

Kiera (05:28)

Yeah, so.

Sheela Roth (05:28)

But I do think to your point, we don’t really need to replace the humans, but repurpose the humans is really

Kiera (05:35)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (05:36)

I think the world we’re living in, you know.

There’s lots of different ways of AI, and it’s beyond the radiograph. And I think that’s the exciting point is how do we actually become more efficient with AI as our co-pilot, you know, throughout the

Kiera (05:49)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (05:49)

entire patient journey. an example is, you know, in a practice I st I still work with, we have an insurance person who sits in a room by herself all day long, right? And she does like that. She does. I kind of envy that.

Kiera (06:01)

I’m sure she loves it though. The insurance people loved their isolation. They’re always

like, please don’t make me go answer phones here. Don’t put me in the front. And I’m like, I could never live back here. Like I worked,

Sheela Roth (06:12)

I know.

Kiera (06:13)

Sheela, this is funny. I know I’m going random to like off topic. I used to work for like an accounting firm. Like, I did one of those like

Sheela Roth (06:19)

Mm-hmm.

Kiera (06:19)

temp agencies. I worked in a lot of different jobs. And I remember walking in, they were in like audit season. There was no music. And I was like, all you heard was like, click.

Sheela Roth (06:26)

yes. Yes.

Kiera (06:29)

I’m like, how do these people live here? Like I would die. Like I’m clearly not meant to

Sheela Roth (06:33)

I know.

Kiera (06:34)

be a CPA. It was in college and I’m like, well, I’m surely not going the accounting route. I can tell you that’s not my jam. Like, not for one minute. So I’m grateful there are people that way. I just know that

Sheela Roth (06:42)

Yes.

Kiera (06:42)

that’s not like, know thyself and be free is what I would say. So go back to your billing person.

Sheela Roth (06:46)

Yes.

No, it’s it’s true. I I walk in her office though and I’m like, so nice in here. What do you do? All this is great. There’s little Granola bars and little coffee.

Kiera (06:56)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (06:56)

I’m like, we’re on the other side, man. We haven’t eaten in eight hours. So but what I have found

Kiera (07:01)

We haven’t even gone to the bathroom in eight hours, Sheela. Like, let’s be real.

Sheela Roth (07:05)

I know it is true. Yes, when she was starting to use AI just to augment some of her insurance verifications and such.

She now gets to work forward-facing with the patients. And

Kiera (07:19)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (07:19)

that I think for her, she’s like, initially I thought that wasn’t gonna be fun, but I really like this and I really enjoy working with patients again. So that that is the point of buying back some time to bring the humans back. You know, when you

Kiera (07:34)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (07:34)

look at simple things like adopting AI, chair side, that’s one thing, right? And you look at the pathologies that are on the radiograph, and you can have this conversation. Doctors are like,

I’m experienced, I don’t need AI, which is very true in a lot of ways. But when you think about AI being spell check for your x-rays, right? You look back and you think, okay, did I need to look at that? I’m really glad that little yellow or pink thing popped up. The magic happens though in two things. When you sit next to a patient and you can show these images.

And we can stop talking finally, right? Kiera, you know you and I talk a lot, especially in hygiene exams or when the doctor

Kiera (08:09)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (08:12)

walks out of the room when you’re explaining dentistry. We can stop talking and let the patients ask the questions. So in the big picture, this allows them to accept the dentistry they want to get the doctors want to get down earlier and more often, right? And I think

Kiera (08:27)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (08:28)

that’s the big win there is to be able to have that happening throughout, you know, the entire patient journey.

Kiera (08:36)

Yeah. No, and I love that you said that, Sheela, because like let’s talk about, let’s talk about what I said. A $40 million business that has five employees and like lots of bots. I do not believe that that’s the future of dentistry. Like I genuinely don’t believe that we are not going to need dentists doing their work. I don’t believe we won’t have chairside and I don’t believe that we won’t have hygienists. And I don’t believe that we’re ever gonna become like McDonald’s with a kiosk. Even McDonald’s with a kiosk has people. All right. So like let’s just accept that. Humans still like humans. And I

I mean, I checked

Sheela Roth (09:04)

Yes.

Kiera (09:04)

into a hotel. This was one weird one. And I was like, huh. I walked in. It was super late at night. There was a little screen. I clicked on it. Some humans still showed up though. It was a virtual human. It wasn’t an AI. I’m sure in the future it will be. But like that was weird. I’d never go back to that one because I’m like, I don’t know if I trust you. Now will the world pride progress? Yes. So could I see in front office teams? This isn’t to say anything. We’re still going to need you. Like my husband’s a pharmacist. And I’m like, yeah, half of his stuff should get automated. But we are still gonna need people to oversee. We’ve proven that forever.

That you still will need that human oversight. But like you said, I feel like how many people love having conversations about financials and like presenting treatment plans? Not a lot. Well, your AI on the x-rays does 90% of the hard work for you. Patients are already bought into saying yes to that before they even come up to it. Doctors, how many times do you get so annoyed with that hygienist like tiptoeing down the hallway, telling you that they need an exam?

Sheela Roth (09:53)

Okay.

Kiera (09:55)

I feel like there was a really funny meme that had like the little dog dancing, like and they’re like, that’s how you feel. And all the hygienists in the doctor, like,

Sheela Roth (09:58)

Yes, yes.

Kiera (10:01)

I see you. Like, and you’re like, I know. And the assistant’s sitting there, like, we’re sweating. We’re like, I see Sheela coming back around. Dentist is

Sheela Roth (10:07)

Ha

Kiera (10:08)

still prepping. And we’re like, huh, don’t like have your eyes get crazy because that patient’s gonna be like, What’s going on? And I’m like, keep your freaking sunglasses. I don’t wanna be staring you in the eyes. Like, this is real life, and they’re stressed out. But like,

Sheela Roth (10:19)

Yes.

Kiera (10:19)

doctors, imagine you now can go in, hygiene exams are already teed up, they’re ready to go.

And you’re not missing things because there’s so many dentists I have. And again, you can have this if like this is you and you don’t have to confess it to me and Sheela. But there’s dentists who are like, man, today I was so busy and I know I missed that. Or in six months, that patient comes back and you’re like, shoot, we missed that. Like that’s okay. You’re human. And I feel like this does just make it accelerated. It’s the like buy back your time. It’s do less and create more. Like that

Sheela Roth (10:44)

Hm, yes.

Kiera (10:46)

to me is in when you can see it in that way, like Claude’s freaking rad.

It used to take me like

Sheela Roth (10:50)

Mm.

Kiera (10:50)

a week to get something turned around. And I’m like, you just upload your brand guide. You’ve got things delivered. We verify

Sheela Roth (10:55)

Yes.

Kiera (10:56)

it on our side. That stuff is so cool. And I think, just go back. I’m sure the person who had the washing machine introduced was like, I’m not using that. It is so much more pure. If I just sit here and scrub down this freaking board, I promise you that’s what like I’m promise you. She’s like, no, this like gets way better. Like, you’re not gonna get the dirt out with that little spin thing over there.

Sheela Roth (11:17)

Yes.

Kiera (11:17)

But then

guess what? She tried it and her shirt actually came out pretty darn clean. Guess what?

Sheela Roth (11:20)

Yes.

Kiera (11:21)

The dentist who tries it, it didn’t take away their dentistry or their expertise. It just helped them

Sheela Roth (11:25)

Yes.

Kiera (11:25)

out. To me, that’s the space where I’m like, there is so much cool stuff that we can be doing. I would just say be careful that you’re not the lady on the scrub board or the man. I’m not gonna say it was just a female, but we’re 2026, so it could have been both. All right. Like, I don’t know.

Sheela Roth (11:36)

Okay.

Kiera (11:39)

Like, don’t be the person who’s like scrubbing that scrub board, like taking so much extra effort.

Because we’re not willing to recognize that it’s here to stay. And it actually makes us better as society. And like you said, Sheela, it gives you more time to talk to your patients. You’re not sitting there and being like, uh-huh, uh-huh, when they’re yapping about their kids while you’re trying to scan the x-rays and hope and pray you don’t miss one of those shades of gray and you miss that cavity that in six months you’re gonna be like, dang it, it was there and I missed it. It helps you to be more intentional with the patients, gives you that little edge. Like you said, I feel like it’s the little Disney magic for you.

That makes you

Sheela Roth (12:11)

Mm.

Kiera (12:12)

look even more incredible without losing any credibility with your patient. There’s my rant, Sheela. Take it from there. I’m sure you got more to say.

Sheela Roth (12:19)

No, that’s great. I I was my son was telling me he went to a concert and he’s like, you know, mom, all I do now is I upload my credit card and then when I go buy a hot dog, when I walk into the stand, it’s automatic with my face. And I thought, This was like a year ago, and I’m like, No, you can’t do that. And what if your card gets out? And now I’m walking into, you know, a baseball game thinking, I don’t have to carry anything. This is great. Right? Imagine if our patients

Kiera (12:41)

Nothing.

Sheela Roth (12:43)

could do that. They just walk up and they pay, right?

Kiera (12:46)

How

cool. Like it’s creepy and awesome. Like there’s things that are scary. But Sheela, something as you were saying that, I think that society, call me crazy. But as I’ve been watching society change, like even just in the last year, AI, like you could tell when it was AI photos on your phone. And now

Sheela Roth (13:02)

Yes, yes.

Kiera (13:03)

my gym trainer, she’s like, Kiera, pick your photo shoot images. So I did. And she looked at it, she’s like, every one of these you picked is AI. And I was like, well, I like how they look. So like, but I I didn’t realize that.

Sheela Roth (13:11)

Yes.

Kiera (13:14)

And so I think the world is getting so much that like AI is so good. There’s a lot of great things and it’s moving so fast that I think people are

Sheela Roth (13:21)

It’s been impressed.

Kiera (13:21)

craving more and more of real. Like there’s times when I’m like, I actually don’t want to be on a call. Like, do they have Granola or an auto running in the background? Like, and even now going in person, one of your people taught me of like this cool little pen that you can have that like records conversations. But it’s like, I want so much more to be face to face with people. Like, I think we’re I think AI is taking so much awesomeness.

out of our hands, like the washing machine, right? To

Sheela Roth (13:45)

Yes.

Kiera (13:46)

where they would get to sit and have dinner together because we’re not spending hours on that freaking scrub board. Same thing with AI. We’re not spending

Sheela Roth (13:51)

Yeah.

Kiera (13:52)

hours creating all these things or looking at our x-rays or sending all the billing things that now we

Sheela Roth (13:56)

Yes.

Kiera (13:57)

can have intentional conversations with our patients and have that human connection piece, which every dentist wants, every patient wants. To me, I feel like that’s the edge that if you’re willing to take on with AI, you can actually have more of an edge of humanity as opposed to being replaced by AI.

Kiera (14:11)

So, Sheela, I really feel like it’s this awesome opportunity where we get to add more of that humanity back into the workspace. Like, people want and they’re craving this human aspect. They’re they’re so afraid of everything that’s AI now that I’m like, and every dentist, every team member, every patient has been craving and craving and craving for years and years of like, I just wish I wasn’t so rushed on my exams. I just wish I had more time with the patient. Well, guess what? Your freaking fairy godmother showed up and her name’s AI. So

Sheela Roth (14:36)

Ha ha

ha.

Kiera (14:37)

Alice

incredible. Like I wish it was Alice in Wonderland, but like didn’t quite work with that AI analogy. But really, I think that if people can see it this way, and I know there’s things to be scared of, I know there’s things to be cautious of, but I think like be cautious and still execute. So that would be my two cents. But Sheela, you’re way more into this. All the things that Pearl’s doing. I know there’s x-rays, I know there’s other things, but like as a hygienist, how cool is it with Bola even? And I know you guys I think have something similar from what I heard. Like hygienists don’t have to period chart anymore.

As a dental assistant, I’m so happy I don’t have to hear from you, hygienist. Asked me to come pariochart for you. Like none of us enjoy it. None of us. And so it’s a like these things are winning. It’s winning.

Sheela Roth (15:12)

Amen to that. Yes. You’re a strong one. Yes, absolutely.

It is it is a true joy to think about bringing back the good old days of dentistry, right? Where you had a few minutes to talk to your coworker, grab a cup of coffee, not as hygienist, but when you think about exactly

Kiera (15:26)

Don’t because then you’re gonna have to go to the bathroom. Like, don’t you dare grab that coffee.

That just is gonna be pain later on.

Sheela Roth (15:32)

Yes, that’s true. That’s true. But

when you think about AI through the patient journey as a co-pilot, I think that’s my my favorite analogy because, you know, before I used to go in 20 minutes early, I’m sure you did too. Look at my patient’s chart. Do they need x-rays? Do they need to probe? What’s the unscheduled dentistry? All that’s done for them. You know, take the burden off the front desk, right? And you can serve your patients way better. To your point, you just push a button and you start recording your entire hygiene visit. Doctor

Kiera (16:00)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (16:00)

comes in.

Open Pareo chart, the entire thing is summarized. Of course, you’re gonna do what you do with every AI. You’re going to review, verify, and then submit. And that’s the best

Kiera (16:10)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (16:11)

thing here is the time saving. People are getting out on time, notes are complete. There’s just a way now where if we embrace the radiologic side, the chart audits, the schedule highlights, you know, there’s so much out there for us to take that deep breath without the staff.

That we not all of us are missing staff members, right? And

Kiera (16:33)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (16:33)

the first thing that goes out the window is notes or claims

Kiera (16:36)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (16:37)

or charting or prepping for the next day or morning huddles. And that’s where we can rely on AI as a co-pilot through the whole journey to review the x-ray, look at the last visit. Is there anything on the x-ray that wasn’t addressed and not treatment planned? In addition to providing a roadmap for every provider per patient. And I think that’s a huge win for hygiene and doctor.

And

then let’s audit the notes for you. Make sure you’re attaching the right x ray and the right narrative for your claims. That to me is the greatest thing because you always have the ability to check along the way. And that time saving applies to everybody in the practice whether you’re going to spend more time with your patient or believe it or not, a little more time with each other. And that’s

Kiera (17:22)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sheela Roth (17:23)

been the win of embracing AI, I think, along the patient journey, beyond the radiograph.

Kiera (17:28)

100%. I’m glad you talked about some of these things because as you said it, I also, you know, I’m I don’t work for Pearl. I know a lot of what they’re doing and it’s always innovating. And I know there’s a lot of AI companies out there. Like it is popping up like daisies out there. I’m like, all right, you go to a conference and there is AI upon AI upon AI. I

Sheela Roth (17:45)

Yes.

Kiera (17:45)

hope, I hope, and I’m just gonna throw this out there because I think Pearl’s on its way there and I think there’s a few others on their way there.

Please do not AI Schmorgersborg like we’ve currently done with all the other softwares that you can add to your software. Like,

Sheela Roth (17:56)

Yeah.

Kiera (17:57)

I feel like it’s like everybody has a subscription, everybody wants us to add it. And dentists are like, so we use Mango for this, and then we use Medento for this, and then we use Swell for this. And that’s nothing. I love all those companies. I listed off some of my favorites. But like, wouldn’t it be so awesome if like one could do it all for us and we’re not having to have like, like I said, I feel like it’s like the hodgepodge like software over there. but as you were saying.

Sheela Roth (18:17)

Yes, yes. We are all looking

for that, right? To your point.

Kiera (18:20)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (18:21)

And like one thing that I thought was really interesting as far as like keeping it cohesive is think about like before you start SRPs, sometimes we need to update the x-ray, or sometimes before you prep, you might need to take an x-ray because you’re missing the apex. And now AI

Kiera (18:40)

Please

Sheela Roth (18:42)

will go in, it’ll say, We looked at your last x-ray.

We’ve also looked at your insurance. By the way, here’s a quick warning. You’ve got to take a new x ray today. So the fact that it’s working throughout the entire journey is what the dental space has been looking for. To your point, we used to have 10 different individual

Kiera (18:56)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (18:59)

companies doing this. And quite frankly, the space is tired of the 299, 299, 299 with, you know, 299 different companies. So you want

Kiera (19:05)

Absolutely.

Sheela Roth (19:08)

a cohesive company that can work alongside you every step of the way.

Kiera (19:13)

Yeah, absolutely. And as you said it, I it makes you just feel like those are the cobwebs, like consulting hundreds of offices. This is the stuff that just irritates and like rubs teams raw. Like, okay, you gotta prep your day, you gotta prep for morning huddle. And they’re like, here, I don’t freaking have time. You want me to do one thing more? And it’s like, all right, cool. So like this is this is

Sheela Roth (19:29)

Yeah.

Kiera (19:32)

just I’m like, I know, trust me. Get faster at your x-rays. Like that’s what I’m telling you to do. And instead of having to be like robots, we’re operating at such a high level.

These little things like to me, I feel like AI is just sweeping or like greasing the wheels for us so things move smoother. Like, do we have to prep our charts? The answer is no. Do we have to have all of our narratives in for claims? No. Like those things can come later. But does that speed everything up and make everything run more smoothly? Yes. Just like, do I have to change my oil for my car? The answer is no. But I’m gonna have problems later on, right? So it’s a like this just makes it to where these little smooth things sweep through and make it a lot easier.

Sheela Roth (20:10)

Yes.

Kiera (20:10)

And I’m so excited because I think AI, like right now, I get it. You you’re blossoming in this area and then we’re adding these other ones. So I understand why there’s still like 200, 299 products out there for you to choose from. we’re not 99 products on the wall, we’re 299 products on the wall. Like, enjoy. But it’s a space of just like choose some that are gonna like alleviate the stress on your team and make it, like you said. I loved how you said it does allow us to get back to the good old days.

I had a photographer come in from Spain and he and I were chatting. He’s like, it’s so weird because the US is so obsessed about work and productivity. He’s like, that’s all you guys talk about. He’s like, in Spain, we work, but we like that that’s like secondary. It’s who am I having breakfast with? Who am I going to meet at the coffee shop? Who’s coming over for dinner that night? And work is just like a little inconvenience in the middle of the day. And I was like, that is such an interesting thing, but I feel like that’s how humans actually are meant to be. I think that’s the fulfillment.

I think that’s the less stress that we’re all seeking is like we want to show up and we want to like enjoy our time with our coworkers. We want to have coffee in the morning. We don’t be like, I gotta get to the office 20 minutes before because I gotta prep all this and I gotta run through my patients and I gotta get like nobody loves living that way. I think we’ve just turned it. And I will say I think that that’s why COVID shook us all up. Everybody woke up, I think, for the first time in years to say, like, maybe there’s a better, different way that we could do this. And I think that that’s where AI is serving is that better, easier, like you said, co-pilot next to you.

that just cleans the dust out of the way so you can you can do the part that you love and that you really enjoy.

Sheela Roth (21:41)

Yep, absolutely. And to your point, you know, we spend more time at work than we do with our families, right? And we

Kiera (21:49)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (21:50)

want to have time to spend with each other. But I think at the end of the day, when we think about AI, it’s really for the patient. If I’m a patient, I would love that you’ve verified my insurance so that I’m gonna have

Kiera (22:02)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (22:02)

an accurate quote. I would love that the AI looked through the last x-ray. I would love that you have gone through my chart and you can tell me today when I come in.

What unscheduled dentistry or remaining benefits I have, and that you’ve done everything you possibly can to make my mouth as healthy as possible, probing, charting, whatever it is, and that you’ve documented everything correctly. So I think when we really slow down and think about what are we all doing every day, we are here to serve our patients. And using AI to do that, using other things to do that throughout your day, that’s the foundation for practice growth, is that that patient has such a great experience.

And you’re not sitting there trying to type your notes while you’re talking to them, like, yeah, what are you doing this weekend? You know, and you’re trying to type your notes. Like, that is a terrible experience. We all experience that when we go to the, you know, regular MD and they’re like, so how are you? And they’re like, basically in another room, they may as well be because they’re not looking at me. And I think that’s

Kiera (22:57)

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (22:58)

the joy of embracing AI is to bring back that one-on-one time with the patient and make sure that the AI agents are doing all the mundane tasks we don’t want to do.

Kiera (23:11)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (23:11)

And

that’s where I think it is becoming really exciting and the the gifts to the front desk to allow them to do simple things, chart audits or recall lists or whatever, they’re seeing a change in culture. And

Kiera (23:23)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (23:24)

that’s the silver lining of AI.

Kiera (23:26)

Yeah. Gia, I love that. Tell us a little bit about what Pearl does. Cause I know Pearl, we I mean we’ve mentioned it. You are with Pearl and I love as a clinician who’s done this. I also love that there’s dentists on the board that have done this. Like that’s something I really do enjoy about Pearl is I do think it’s coming from a very dental centric. and my favorite companies tend to come from very dental centric. What are some of the things like I you listed it’s like radiographs, what are all the pieces that AI currently is working in Pearl’s Ethernet, if you will.

Sheela Roth (23:55)

Yes. to your point, Kiera, what I love most about Pearl is before I get into just a quick summary, our engineers and our leaders are spending so much time in practices understanding the friction points. We’re not just sending a CS rep. We’re sending our, you know, chief technology officer, we’re sending our CEO. They’re sitting chair side with the clinicians. They’re seeing, if you move this button over here, it would make my

radiograph review faster. Or if you could record my my notes and then help me coach my my associate dentist to be able to be more performant, then that’s the huge win where you’re seeing companies that are really working alongside the dentist understanding and solving their friction points. So we all know that radiological AI is out there. And what that means is you take an X-ray, whether it’s in your imaging system

Or your regular sensors, and in 30 seconds, you’re going to see cavities, calculus, paraphrase relucencies, notable margins, all these things pop up in real time. You can hover over any and re-rease them. You have full control. Then you colorize that and you show small things like: do you see this yellow one? It’s still in the enamel. We’re gonna keep an eye on it. And that’s a big practice builder where this little pink guy has moved past the enamel into the green spongy part of your tooth. That’s where we all started with AI.

When we then migrated that into our practice intelligence schedule, we allow teams to know we’ve now looked into your practice management system. We’re going to create an entire schedule that’s going to identify unscheduled and AI findings right inside of a schedule you work in. You move that into practice management RCM, where you go ahead and say, great, let’s verify. Let’s verify all the insurance for you, help you submit your claims, and also record your notes.

your periodontal charting. So you have second opinion radiographs, you have practice intelligence for practice growth, identifying opportunities, auditing all those charts, doing an entire morning huddle fills the schedule. It’ll find opportunities for you as you hover over everything. It’ll say, here’s unscheduled fillings, here’s unscheduled sealants, here’s unscheduled period. So you can maximize your day, but you put on top of that the the barrier that we all see with our patients, the how much is it going cost?

Right.

We

Kiera (26:19)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (26:19)

have the verification right there, chair side. Hygienists can find out can I take x-rays? Can I do fluoride? One click and they can see that in their operatory. And then lastly, we get out on time. We have Pearl notes. And I think the nice thing about Pearl, again, is it’s aligning with those templates. You can customize it. You know, we have hygienists now getting out on time because they

Kiera (26:40)

Mm-hmm.

Sheela Roth (26:40)

have their own templates. They’re talking like regular humans, and the AI is trained to understand that this is how you want your clinic to know.

So it is really the ability to work with one company that will go through the entire patient journey and allow you to, like you said, Kiera, spend the time where you need it. And that’s the joys of having a system that understands the friction points throughout the entire practice.

Kiera (27:07)

And I love that, Sheela. That’s why we’re a huge fan of Pearl. If people are interested in adding Pearl or like what it looks like, they don’t want two hundred and ninety nine, two hundred and ninety

Sheela Roth (27:16)

Yeah.

Kiera (27:16)

nine options. I think that’s funny. We should take that and coin that. I’m I’m on a punchy roll with you today, Sheela. So it’s a good it’s a good day over here. How

Sheela Roth (27:24)

They love it. I love it.

Kiera (27:25)

do they how do they connect in? What does it kind of look like working with you guys?

Sheela Roth (27:29)

Yeah, super easy. We’d love to do a demo. We like to invite the entire team. see if it’s a good match for you. You can start with one or all products, and you’re up and running within the next 24 to 48 hours with your AI detections, and within seven days, we will go back and look historically at 18 months of information on your practice management system and your existing radiograph. So I’d say a 20-minute demo is the best place to start, and we can get your team started right away.

Kiera (27:57)

Awesome. And I do know if you guys mentioned Dental A team, Pearl does take great care of our clients as well. So be sure to mention that. Sheela, so fun to have you. Any last thoughts you’ve got on AI before we wrap up today?

Sheela Roth (28:08)

No, hopefully the two you know, the two categories we talked about today, the one team that’s a little concerned and anxious versus the team that’s ready to go all in, hopefully we brought everybody maybe closer to the middle. And I encourage

Kiera (28:21)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (28:21)

you to pick one part of AI. I mean, I could not do my job without an A ri AI running through my emails, reminding me who to reply to, right? And we know even as dentists and clinicians that what we see Monday at eight AM on an X-ray is not what we see

Friday at four PM. So I think the important

Kiera (28:40)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (28:40)

part is you still have full autonomy. And I think that’s the joy of embracing AI because you s you’re still the pilot. It’s just the co co pilot.

Kiera (28:50)

I love that. And Sheela selfishly, what’s your what’s your AI in your inbox? Like tell us that little nugget there. You drop that. Who are you using?

Sheela Roth (28:58)

So I am using town. I should get some some honorariums from town, but it

Kiera (29:03)

Seriously.

Sheela Roth (29:04)

is, it’ll literally go in and say, Good morning, Sheela. Let me tell you about your day. And it goes through my entire day and it’ll also go out and say, you’re meeting with Kiera. Let me tell you a little bit more about Kiera. It is the best thing that I have ever invested in in the last 60 days. There’s also Muse. Muse does something similar to that as well. But Town will also go and reply to all my emails. And again,

It just sits there and waits for me to confirm. So

Kiera (29:31)

Mm.

Sheela Roth (29:32)

I would suggest trying to buy our own time back. I don’t want to be sending emails all night long. I want to be hanging out with my family. So that’s how I’m embracing AI is to find the mundane tasks I’m doing and have someone else do it. I’m still gonna oversee

Kiera (29:48)

Yeah.

Sheela Roth (29:48)

it, but why would I wanna create emails when I can have an AI do that for fifteen dollars a month?

Kiera (29:55)

Awesome. I was like, I’m just so like you plug that in a little bit. I was like,

Sheela Roth (29:58)

Well.

Kiera (29:58)

hey, that’s a good nugget because this is how we all learn. Like in our doctor mastermind that we have, I’m like, all right, everybody like bust out your AI. What’s everybody using? What are we all trying? Because it’s so fun that it’s new, right? None of us really know what the heck we’re doing. We’re all a little bit like wild and crazy and loose on it. But I promise you, when they were first making washing machines, they were all a little wild and crazy, like, what soap are you using? And like, did you put it? Right? Like, all right. So we’re doing the same thing just in our own world. So

I love that share. I love Pearl. All of you, reach out. Like do yourself a gift. Try it out. It’s not going to hurt you any. If you don’t want to do it right now, you don’t have to. If you don’t only want to adopt one thing, the x-rays are awesome. I think that it helps with case acceptance exponentially. Other things are just a nice cherry on top that help, but like hearing you’re getting team out on time, maybe just go run your payroll and see how much overtime you’re paying. And it might pay for itself that way. So reach out. Sheela, I had a pleasure of having you on. Thank you for being here today. I really appreciate you.

Sheela Roth (30:52)

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Kiera (30:54)

Of course. And for all of you listening, thank you for listening and I’ll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.