FDA Clearance is Granted to Denti.AI for Auto-Charting Software

 

A few years ago I did some work with Denti.AI from a consulting standpoint.  The concept of using machine learning in dentistry was young back then, but I definitely got a glimpse of the future in my work with them.

Now the company has a huge announcement as they have received FDA clearance for their auto-charting software.  Getting the blessing of the FDA for a product is an incredibly big deal.  I have not had a chance to work with their charting system, so all I can state at this point is what the FDA has approved, but I can tell you that charting is very time consuming and having it automated would be a welcome addition to any practice.

Here is what Denti.AI has to say about their recent FDA clearance...

 -- Denti.AI Auto-Chart, an AI-powered software developed by Denti.AI, has become the first and currently only dental auto-charting product cleared by the FDA.

 The device can assist dental professionals in the interpretation of intraoral and extraoral 2D x-ray images by detecting and numbering teeth and missing teeth. It also aids in detecting dental structures added through past restorative treatment, including implants, crowns, pontics, endodontic treatment, and fillings, as well as their attributes, such as affected surfaces.

Denti.AI Auto-Chart's quick and reliable imaging-based odontogram charting complements Denti.AI Voice, which is used at hundreds of US and Canada clinics commercially to improve the speed and accuracy of perio charting. Combined, these products revolutionize charting tasks and drive better patient outcomes and bottom-line growth.

The product integrates directly into any Practice Management System (PMS) and Imaging software systems creating seamless workflows for dental professionals. By automating the entire data entry process, Denti.AI Auto-Chart produces highly accurate and complete patient charts. While studying its efficacy, the FDA determined that the results of Denti.AI Auto-Chart exceeded the predefined acceptance criteria and demonstrated a 70% reduction in time and effort required to create dental charts.

"This is a breakthrough for the field as one of the first users of Denti.AI Auto-Chart," Dr. Slazcka said, "I believe tooth numbering and existing charting is a huge hassle for staff. With Denti.AI Auto-Chart, even at 80% accuracy, it is much easier for them to take a template and work off corrections rather than inputting all variables."

"We are thrilled to offer this product that makes dentists' and hygienists' lives easier and improves their productivity and outcomes for the patients," said Denti.AI founder and CEO Dmitry Tuzoff. "With Denti.AI Voice, we changed the way perio charts are created, and everyone has asked us about odontogram charting, so now Auto-Chart will provide a significant and long-awaited addition to the dental professionals' automation toolkit."

Denti.AI founders' breakthrough research paper, Tooth Detection and Numbering in Panoramic Radiographs Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, 2019, established the scientific foundation of the revolutionary Auto-Chart tool. The study remains a top ten most-cited academic paper for AI in dentistry worldwide.

A US patent protects the technology that has also been adopted in a commercial partnership with P&R Dental Strategies, making it an essential tool for any dental insurance claim review from a clinical standpoint.

Denti.AI recently closed a pre-Series A round of funding. The infusion of capital led by one of the largest investors in dental technology will allow Denti.AI to bring more intelligent solutions to dental practices and reach remarkable milestones.

About Denti.AI

Founded in 2017, Denti.AI uses AI to detect pathologies, past treatments, and anatomical features from dental x-rays and voice commands, helps find diseases earlier, increases dentists' and hygienists' productivity, and provides more accurate records. Its products are integrated with practice management systems to automate workflows of dental groups in North America with hundreds of active users.  

Research into Bone Conduction from Dental Implant for Hearing Aids

 This is one of the coolest things I've read about in dentistry for quite a while.  In the past I've read that the military uses speakers that attach the the zygoma or the mastoid process that conduct sound through bones in the skull.  They refer to them as "bone phones" which is obviously a play on the term headphones.

What I'm going to tell you about is pretty fascinating.  It seems that researchers are working on a way to use dental implants to function as an adjunct to ear place hearing aids.  Since implant are actually connected to the bone of the maxilla or mandible, the theory is that sound could be transmitted through them that would then be picked up by the inner ear.

I wold think that the maxilla would be preferred since the mandible is only connected to the body via soft tissue which would impede the conduction, but the idea is a fascinating one.

The official scientific paper is behind a pay wall, so all you can read is the abstract, but the good news is that Medscape has a pretty good summation of the paper.  You can read the Medscape article here.  

NORAD Tracks Santa - It's That Time of Year!

I love the Christmas Season!  No matter what your beliefs are, I think that for about one month each year, we can be nice to one another!  So no matter what your beliefs in a higher power "are" or "are not" I still say "Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men!"

So now that I've said that, let's get on with probably my fave post of the whole year.  Every year I love to post about and promote the NORAD Santa Tracker service.  

You can even track Santa from your GM vehicle via OnStar.

Every year lots of volunteers in our military answer the phones and provide info on Santa's journey.  It's one of the coolest things of the holiday season.  My family called one year and we were really impressed to get the info on where Santa was and when he would be in our area.  I cannot say enough thank yous to all the hardworking members of the U.S. Military and especially those who donate their time to this special cause!

If you are interested in tracking the big guy, here is a link to all of the available ways to do that!

I won't go into all of the details in this post, but NORAD has tons of info on the Santa Tracker and all that it entails.  You can access all of that info here.

Merry Christmas to all!

Do NOT Disclose PHI in Online Reviews!

 

Consider today's post an early Christmas present!

Not to be flip about this, but this is a *serious* issue.  This year the Office of Civil Rights
(OCR) has fined and forced implementation of a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) on 2 separate dental offices in 2 separate HIPAA violations.

There is an old adage "discretion is the better part of valor" and that certainly applies here.  It seems that 2 separate offices received negative Yelp reviews.  The doctors who owned the practices responded to the complaints and publicly revealed PHI (Protected Health Information) which is a violation of Federal HIPAA laws.

If you are interested, the OCR settlement release for one of the practices can be read here.

I'm providing the link not to embarrass the office, but to provide knowledge to others that might prevent something like this from happening to another office.  The press release basically explains that offices cannot do these types of things.  Revealing PHI is *never* acceptable.

My suggestion would be to post that you are sorry for the incident and would be happy to discuss in person.  Hopefully this post can help keep someone else from a HIPAA violation.

he Academy of Laser Dentistry Publishes the Latest Edition of the Journal of Laser Dentistry

 

The Academy of Laser Dentistry (ALD), an international, professional membership association, announced today the availability of the latest edition of its peer-reviewed serial publication, the Journal of Laser Dentistry (JLD).  

This issue provides practical advice from some of laser dentistry’s most knowledgeable clinicians, researchers, and educators.  Highlights of this 153-page digital issue include the following:

• An examination of the effect of photobiomodulation on chemoradiation-induced xerostomia and oral mucositis

• The effectiveness of various laser wavelengths for desensitization of hypersensitive dentine

• The advantages and limitations of a closed, Er:YAG laser-assisted surgical approach to esthetic crown lengthening

• A technique for low-energy ablation of oral lichen planus with a 9300-nm CO2 laser

• Phototherapy for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea.  

What’s more, these clinical topics are complemented by insightful interviews, thought-provoking commentaries, a compilation of photobiomodulation resources, and more. View the complete table of contents. 

The latest edition of the Journal of Laser Dentistry and other recent issues are immediately accessible to ALD members at as one of several valuable member benefits. Find out more about ALD individual and corporate memberships at  https://www.laserdentistry.org/join-ald.

About the Academy of Laser Dentistry:  

The Academy of Laser Dentistry (ALD) is the only independent and unbiased non-profit association devoted to laser dentistry and includes clinicians, academicians, and researchers in all laser wavelengths. The Academy is devoted to clinical education, research, and the development of standards and guidelines for the safe and effective use of dental laser technology. The ALD was founded in 1993, with the merging of the International Academy of Laser Dentistry, the North American Academy of Laser Dentistry, and the American Academy of Laser Dentistry. For more information, visit www.LaserDentistry.org.

For updated news and information, follow the Academy on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

The Blog Continues...

 As many of you noticed, I took a few days off last week.  My apologies for not making an announcement here.  I was preparing for a webinar on Thursday evening and I got so involved in that, I simply forgot to tell all of you blog readers that I wasn't going to be posting.  Sorry about that!

As you have all found out as of late, my professional life is changing a bit.  Starting in 2023 I won't be the actual practice "owner" any more.  Instead, I'm flipping places with Dr. Brunker.  She will be owning and running the actual business aspect of things while I will become an associate of the new practice "Advanced Dental Associates".

I'm really excited about the changes.  As most of you know, I have been a dentist for 35 years.  That has come with a lot of meetings and paperwork in addition to solving problems like equipment maintenance and other things.  And... of course on top of all of that, I've had the things that come with the "other" aspects of my career.  I've been taking care of patients for 32 hours per week, writing and editing for each issue of Dental Products Report, doing DPR Product Test Drives, working as Missouri State Peer Review Chairman, doing expert witness work in malpractice trials, and *then* I get to have dinner!

Seriously, I've burned the candle at both ends AND in the middle.  The one thing that I might classify as a positive from the pandemic is that it helped me to put things in perspective.  Even before the nightmare of 2020, I had begun to stop and look at where my life would go in its "next" stages.

What I discovered with that introspection is that I needed to get the business part of my business off my plate.  I am looking forward to helping patients and doing all of the other things I have been doing, but I finally won't have to to do the "business" part that I really haven't enjoyed for a few years now.

And I will say one of the things that I am most proud of is that my office and practice will be handed off to Dr. Rachel Brunker.  Dentistry is a very personal thing and I am extremely proud that my patients and the members of the office team are not being turned over to a corporate dental entity with the compassion of Arnold in The Terminator.  No, that will all be handled by Dr. Brunker who is one of the sweetest, most compassionate, and (most importantly) skilled doctors I know.

Dr. Brunker, Dr. Poppa, and I are ALL looking forward to the future.  AND as readers of The Blog, I want all of you to know I'm going to keep on posting my updates, news, and ramblings.  So just because I took some time last week, doesn't mean I'm gone.  I'm not going *anywhere*.  However, I DO want you to know that from now until the New Year, posting may be a bit "hit and miss".  As regular readers know, I am always a bit hit or miss at this time of year so if you don't see a post for a day or two, don't let it worry you... I'll be back.  You are not getting rid of me THAT easily!

The Bar... and the Backstory of Flucke and Associates

 

Last Thursday the office crew and I went out for our annual Christmas shindig.  Most of you know our current location (shown in the picture above).  We've been in that office for 15 years!  However, what a lot of you don't know is that for the 18 previous years before the new office, I worked out of 1400 sq ft space in a strip mall not far from our current location.

When I moved out of the old strip mall space, it was vacant for quite a while.  Then... of all things a small watering hole called, appropriately, The Bar, opened up in the old dental office.  In the years that followed, I had been in there one time for a cold one with a few of the staff that had worked there with me.

Since I'm about to turn the reins over to Dr. Brunker at the end of the month, I thought it would be fun it I took all of the current staff to The Bar as a kind of farewell to my practice ownership.  We went out and had a great lunch and then headed over for the final adult beverage only to find... The Bar had closed the week before!

Since we couldn't actually go inside the old office, a passerby was nice enough to snap this photo of all of us in front of the old place.  I was a bit bummed, I must confess.  I thought it would be a good time for one last beer.  The sign in the window replaced my neon  "Dentist" sign with the giant neon tooth on it.  I had to leave that sign behind when I moved.

It's kind of funny to see all of us in front of that window.  We would have had a tough time fitting all of us in the place if I hadn't moved 15 years ago.  So it's not only the end of my practice ownership... it turned out it's also the end of The Bar... which is a sad event as I hate to see any small business close.

The good news is Advanced Dental Associates will be around for generations to come.  Sometimes when something ends, even better things are just beginning.

Coming Soon... Advanced Dental Associates

 

Changes are afoot here are the office.  The following announcement went out to all our patients yesterday, but now I'd like to share the news with all of you who read the blog.

The great thing about this change, from my perspective, is that I will have more time to do my evaluations, product testing, and other parts of my "second job".  I'll be able to devote more time to those fun projects since I won't have to be meeting with accountants and doing all the other little details that come with owning a business.  Now I'm relieved of those business responsibilities.  So read on for the details of the changes here at the office...

We are about to finish our 15th year in our new location! I am amazed that the time has gone so quickly and I am also so incredibly grateful to all of you for trusting us to provide your oral healthcare. Since the age of 3, dentistry is the only thing I ever wanted to do and I am so blessed that all of you have helped make that dream a reality.

I graduated from the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Dentistry in 1987 & opened my office in Lee’s Summit in 1989. Some of you have been with me so long that I have seen you get married, have children, watched them grow up, and now I am treating your grandchildren. I’m hard pressed to think of a greater honor than that.

Of course that also means that I have been practicing for a while now. In April I passed my 35 year mark as a dentist. I can remember when simply “being” 35 seemed old and now I’ve been a doctor that long. The time has passed pretty quickly.

Now with all this talk of time passing I do NOT want you to think I’m retiring. Let me say that again, “I am NOT retiring”. I’ve come to the conclusion that I simply love what I do SO much that I am not ready to hang up my spurs yet.

However, there will be some changes happening in January and I want you to be aware of them. I have decided to sell the practice to my sidekick Dr. Rachel Brunker. Because of that, the name of the office will change. The sign out front and our website will be “Advanced Dental Associates”.

Other than the name change, everything else will pretty much stay the same. We will have the same hours, the same caring staff, and the same attention to detail that you have come to expect from us. Basically, I feel the need to put the pieces in place for the next generation. In the last 10-15 years I’ve given thought to the fact that at some point someone else would be responsible for caring for all of you. Having that thought in mind, I looked for someone that shares my passion of taking the best care of people that I can. I absolutely *love* what I do and that is mainly because of my patients. I felt it was important to find a doctor I could transition my office to that would try as hard as I do to give you the best possible care.

I’ve known Dr. Brunker for quite a while now. Some of you may even remember when she shadowed in the office before heading to dental school. She is an incredible doctor and clinician with a strong desire for education and a love of healthcare technology. I know in my heart that she possesses all of the special qualities I was looking for in the person to lead the practice into the future and to take care of all of you.

This transition is made even easier with the continued presence of Dr. Michael Poppa. He joined our practice this past summer and has been a tremendous asset to our team. If you haven't met him yet, trust me, you are going to love him! He has great skills, is compassionate, and is the kind of man that I respect and admire. I am SO glad he joined us!

I will continue to be in the office, just like always. Dr. Brunker will be in charge and one of my goals is to be as good a helper in this transition as I can be. The most important part of this change is that this office will continue on the path that got us here. That means, as a patient, you really won’t notice much difference other than the name change.

We all love what we do here and I am really excited to see that things are taking shape for the next generation of patients. In the future, those grandchildren I am now taking care of will be able to bring their children to the office and know that the commitment and level of care will be the same!

I am SO proud of Dr. Brunker. She’s going to be an amazing practice owner. I am also SO grateful to all of you. This all started from when I was a little boy with a dream, but it has been ALL of you that have made those dreams come true!

I look forward to seeing you soon and I look forward to continuing my role in your care.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Brunker!

Sincerely,

Dr. F

Introducing FULL CONTACT™ Cosmedent’s Sectional Matrix Bands

 

Cosmedent’s FULL CONTACT™ sectional matrix bands have a multitude of advantages for the clinician: they are ultrathin and easy to place, pre-contoured for complete contact and resilient, holding their shape once placed. These matrix bands can wedge from both buccal and lingual sides ensuring a complete gingival seal. They can also be used with any ring system or alone. FULL CONTACT sectional matrix bands are available in both large and small sizes.

For more information, call our customer care representatives at 800-621-6729 or visit us online at cosmedent.com.

Owandy Highlights the Integration of its QuickVision 3D Software with the Medit i700 Digital Scanner

 

edit i700 Users Can Now Use Owandy’s 3D QuickVision Software

as Their Digital Implant Workflow Hub

Owandy Radiology Inc., a global leader in the manufacture of dental radiology hardware and imaging software, will highlight the recent integration of its QuickVision 3D implant planning software with the Medit i700 intraoral scanner product line at booth #4015 during the Greater New York Dental Meeting. 

Owandy’s QuickVision 3D Software is a comprehensive, open architecture implant planning solution that can serve as the heart of Owandy’s extensive product suite or as the digital workflow hub capable of integrating digital technologies from other manufacturers.

 The Medit i700 intraoral scanner features plug and scan simplicity, super-fast scan speeds and an open architecture for the efficient sharing of patient records. The i700 wireless scanner delivers superior convenience and mobility  

“Thanks to open architecture, QuickVision 3D Software and Medit scanners integrate seamlessly,” says Owandy’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Boris Loyez. “Medit i700 users can now take full advantage of QuickVision’s impressive capabilities including its extensive AI-powered auto-matching. QuickVision 3D software also includes comprehensive implant libraries from all major manufacturers. 

About Owandy’s QuickVision 3D Software:

Owandy’s QuickVision 3D software creates a comprehensive planned treatment report and surgical guide in .STL format within minutes. The report can then be sent to a lab, shared with a colleague, or sent to a 3D printer.

QuickVision was designed to be the hub of a digital workflow system that features five steps and corresponding solutions. This includes: DICOM Data acquisition, which entails CBCT exploration by using Owandy’s I-Max 3D or I-Max Ceph 3D; .STL data acquisition; implant planning that comes with a complete cloud-based implant manufacturer library and bone density measurement guide; surgical guide design, with the software guiding users through the treatment planning and surgical guide process; and file export for manufacturing via CAD/CAM milling unit, lab or 3D printer. 

Since the Greater New York Dental Meeting,  Owandy will be running several show specials, stop by booth #4015 or download the flyer at www.owandy.com/usa/offers

Learn more about the full line of Owandy products by visiting www.Owandy.com, calling 516-858-5695 or sending an e-mail at sales@owandyus.com.  Distributor inquiries are always welcome.

About Owandy Radiology, Inc.: 

Headquartered in France, and serving North America from Roslyn, New York, Owandy Radiology is a global leader in the manufacture of dental radiology hardware and imaging software. Its products are distributed through dental dealers across the USA, and in more than one hundred countries world-wide, on every continent. For more information, visit www.Owandy.com.

A Momentous Day for Children’s Oral Health - from the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association

 

Ondina Love, chief executive officer of the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA), was honoured to join The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, federal minister of health, today for a historic announcement on a momentous day for children’s oral health in Canada.

 Across the country, dental hygienists are celebrating today’s official launch of the Canada Dental Benefit because this new program will help children access the essential oral care needed to prevent disease and improve overall health. Dental hygienists see the effects of poor oral health firsthand and that’s why they, alongside many other oral health care providers, have long called for better access to preventive oral care services for children. 

 “Today’s announcement on the Canada Dental Benefit will be remembered for generations,” said Love. “Dental hygienists have consistently called for increased access to preventive oral health care for children, and this government commitment does that.”

 “CDHA represents the sixth-largest regulated health profession in Canada. With a dental hygiene workforce of over 31,000 professionals, we have the capacity to deliver essential oral health services in dental offices, school clinics, independent dental hygiene practices, and mobile practices,” remarked CDHA President Anne Caissie. “The passage of this national dental care bill into law is a historic accomplishment of Prime Minister Trudeau and his government, working with the NDP to support the oral health of children in Canada,” added Caissie.

 CDHA and dental hygienists across the country applaud the federal government for investing in children’s oral health and look forward to future phases of this program reaching even more Canadians.

CDHA is the collective national voice of more than 31,000 dental hygienists in Canada, directly representing 21,000 individual members, including students. Since 1963, CDHA has worked to advance the profession and promote the importance of oral health. Dental hygiene is the sixth-largest regulated health profession in Canada, with professionals working in a variety of settings, including independent dental hygiene practice, with people of all ages, addressing issues related to oral health. For more information on oral health, visit dentalhygienecanada.ca. 

The Number of Data Breaches in Healthcare Doubled in Three Years...

 I happened to come across an article recently on the website Bankinfosecurity.com that dealt with the continuing problem of data breaches in healthcare.  Due to the amount of computing infrastructure in healthcare, combined with the NEED for fast access to data to save lives, that sector of the market is a big target for cyber criminals.

What I get upset about is the aspect that criminals mucking around in hospital networks could very easy cause loss of life.  Now I realize that also applies to lots of other sectors that are battling Ransomware and other threats... the Colonial Pipeline hack could have affected EMS or other emergency departments that save lives.  However, hacking hospitals seems to have a very direct "cause and effect".

I suppose that criminals don't let those trivial details really enter into the mental equation, but it should.  The basic idea is that because of the need to access medical data quickly and efficiently, hospitals will face huge pressure to pay a ransom as the data is in the best interest of the patients.

Dental offices, while not frequently dealing with life and death issues, can still be targets of cyber criminals.  However, since many dental offices are still privately owned, the potential for high dollar payouts are not there.  Large corporate dental clinics might be better targets for ransomware, simply because they have more money for ransoms, but there is also the fact that encrypting a private practice system would take the owner's livelihood away and perhaps they might be willing to pay to get that back.  I once had a doctor tell me their cyber security posture was "stay small and they won't think I have any money".  While it IS a strategy, it's not one that I would endorse.

To read the article on bankinfosecurity, follow this link.  

There is also a really great article on the DPR website that was written by my good buddy Brett Callow and his friend Meredith Griffanti.  They are both experts in cyber security and were awesome about writing this article on "Protect Your Dental Practice from Ransomware".  These 2 are well known and established experts in the field of cyber security, so if you are a dental professional, be sure to follow the link and read this article.