{"id":10740,"date":"2024-01-24T06:30:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T14:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/?p=10740"},"modified":"2024-12-30T10:30:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T18:30:50","slug":"which-tech-dso-leaders-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/blog\/which-tech-dso-leaders-use\/","title":{"rendered":"What Technology DSO Leaders Are Exploring in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article was written by Planet DDS staff and originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drbicuspid.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DrBicuspid.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Artificial intelligence for X-ray analysis and revenue cycle management automation were the hot trends in dental support organizations in 2023, and adoption is expected to grow even more in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/blog\/dental-industry-trends\/\">2024<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Plus, cloud-based software that enables the secure sharing of data across practices and providers is making life easier for clinicians, support staff, and DSO executives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">To find out how DSOs ranging in size from start-ups to groups with more than 75 locations are using technology solutions, we asked these questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">What types of technology did you add to your practice in 2023?\u202f<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">What types of technology are you exploring for 2024?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">What problem(s) would it solve?\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Some of their answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Dr. Ankoo Raina, Chief Dental Officer of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffersondentalclinics.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jefferson Dental &amp; Orthodontics<\/a> (76 locations in Oklahoma and Texas)<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We have embedded automation and AI in all aspects of the patient journey and have been particularly impressed by the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itero.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Itero<\/a> Plus series, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overjet.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overjet<\/a> artificial intelligence for X-ray analysis, and Bot-supported insurance verification and automation of claims.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Align Oral Health Suite on the iTero Plus scanner integrates patient education tools into a single dashboard, enhancing chairside conversations and our patients\u2019 understanding of their oral health conditions.\u202fIt aligns seamlessly with Jefferson&#8217;s wellness scanning protocol: &#8220;no Overjet, no scan,\u202fno oral health suite, no exam&#8221; and reinforces the importance of comprehensive oral health assessments.\u202fWe have also been impressed by the scanner\u2019s Invisalign Outcome Simulator with IFV, which has shown a significant increase in patient engagement and treatment acceptance.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">In 2024, we anticipate the smooth incorporation of the Itero Plus Series across all of our locations and will continually improve our systems through the integration of AI and automation in revenue cycle management. This will alleviate many manual tasks, allowing our team to focus on what we excel at \u2013 patient care!<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Dr. Kalpesh Patel, Founder and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/activedentalonline.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Active Dental<\/a> (4 locations in Texas)\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We added iTero Element 5D+ scanners in 2023 and have been impressed by the ability to use this technology both as a patient education tool and as a teaching tool for our newer doctors.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We\u2019re a small DSO and I can now have my clinical director access the patient data virtually to help guide and coach our doctors better. We can access X-rays, the full digital exam, patient notes, and other data to conduct peer-to-peer patient reviews easily.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">In 2024, we\u2019re adding 3D printers to make us more efficient with creating and delivering dental implants, night guards, crowns, and composite veneers. They will give us the ability to print out dental implant guides so we can combine them with a CBCT scan, plan out the implant placement, and deliver treatment faster. Guided implants make everything so easy and predictable.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We anticipate having the 3D scanners will help us increase patient compliance with night guards because we\u2019ll be able to turn them around in just one day, while the patients\u2019 motivation to wear them remains high.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">With the way we\u2019ve done veneers in the past, we scan, mock it up, send it to the lab, and get it back. Now, we can design veneers digitally on the iTero and can show the patient immediately what their teeth will look like. With the 3D scanners, we\u2019ll be able to print temporary crowns or create composite veneers. We think that patients will be very excited because they\u2019re getting results instantaneously.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Karla-Marie Santiago Mel\u00e9ndez, Senior Director of Practice Optimization and Growth at <a href=\"https:\/\/oakpoint.us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oakpoint<\/a> (44 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">2023 has been one of innovation and growth for technology that uses artificial intelligence to create efficiencies in a practice&#8217;s clinical and non-clinical areas. We especially saw a spur of software specializing in automation and efficiency of tasks in the revenue cycle process. The software aims to optimize the RCM process by tracking claims in a centralized platform, following insurance adjustments and EOBs, automating insurance verification, and helping maximize claim collection to increase cash flow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">At Oakpoint, we have implemented two of the current products in the RCM market: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidedesk.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideDesk<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zentist.io\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zentist<\/a>. These implementations have delivered significant results, including a reduction in accounts receivable and improved claim submission payouts.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">With InsideDesk, our claims management has improved, resulting in a decrease in AR days from 19 to 15 and a 90-day AR decrease of 5%.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cThe payment and posting insights we have achieved through using Zentist have been instrumental in successfully changing TINs within our DSO structure,&#8221; shared Oakpoint\u2019s Senior Director of Integrations, Susanne Moyer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">In 2024, we are committed to maintaining our position at the forefront of dental technology. Our leadership team will continue to harness the power of AI to leverage innovative solutions that enhance efficiency at the DSO and practice levels. Our priority is to adopt technology that allows us to track our practices&#8217; performance in a centralized place and allows for seamless visibility of multi-site locations. We will focus on enhanced interoperability, ensuring smooth data exchange between different practice locations and departments to streamline communication and optimize coordination across our network. In addition, we will continue optimizing patient-facing technology that enhances the patient experience, like online payment functionality at all of our locations to simplify the billing process, digital intake forms reducing paperwork and streamlining patient registration, two-way messaging to facilitate easy communication between patients and our clinical staff, and easier access to third-party financing options. The ultimate goal is to have the necessary tools in place for our doctors and clinical staff to continue to provide the highest level of patient care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dr. Larry Moray, Founder &amp; CEO of MyOrthodontist North Carolina \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/kdmsinc.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Key Dental Management Solutions<\/a> (14 locations in North Carolina)\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">2023 saw the adoption of <a href=\"https:\/\/sparkaligners.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spark Clear Aligners<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dentalmonitoring.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dental\u202fMonitoring<\/a> for\u202fboth traditional braces and clear aligners.\u202fDental Monitoring has allowed us to follow patients remotely thereby decreasing the need for unnecessary office visits and alerting us of problems with broken brackets, elastic\u202fcompliance or stubborn teeth so that we can\u202fanticipate next steps ahead of patient visits. \u202fAdditionally, the marriage of Spark and Dental Monitoring allows us to make Clear Aligner\u202fRefinement scans and new aligners without the patient requiring a visit to the office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">In 2024, we will\u202fexpand our use of and reliance on Dental\u202fMonitoring and Spark while incorporating the <a href=\"https:\/\/dentalpaineraser.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pain Eraser<\/a> which is a game-changer in orthodontic and dental care delivering profound pain control without the need for topical or local anesthesia. As such, the discomfort of appliance placement, activation and removal is\u202fameliorated.\u202fThe Pain Eraser is also effective in addressing discomfort from oral ulcers and simple surgical procedures such as simple extractions, gingivectomies, frenectomies and expose and bonds, all of\u202fwhich we perform in our clinics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Brandon Halcott, Co-Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/sevadentalteam.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seva Dental Team<\/a> (recently-formed DSO acquiring its first offices in February 2024 in Michigan and Ohio)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Technology\u2019s place within dental offices has come a long way since we started our first DSO in 2014. With that dental group, we liked using cloud-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/solutions\/denticon\/\">Denticon<\/a> for our practice management software to make it easier to share patient data and information across our practices. As we embark on building Seva, we are looking for more ways we can utilize tech to serve patients at a high level and increase our operational efficiency.\u202f \u202f<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We\u2019ll add solutions that utilize AI to help us deliver first-class care. One example of this is AI for X-ray analysis, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.videa.ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">VideaHealth<\/a>, Overjet, and Pearl. They analyze large data sets to identify potential caries, bone loss, and other pathologies, and that would enable our team members to be even more proactive in providing optimal care. \u202f<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We are additionally looking to utilize a cloud-based practice management system again with an integrated imaging platform so we can create SOPs to help drive efficiency within the organization.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">_ _\u00a0 _<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">To learn how dentists and DSO executives are evaluating cloud-based systems, check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.planetdds.com\/ebook-dentists-guide-digital-imaging-ai.html?utm_campaign=WC-PDDS-DR-bicuspid-article&amp;utm_medium=press&amp;utm_source=organic-web&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_cta=cta-button&amp;utm_content=pdds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cA Dentist\u2019s Guide to Digital Imaging with AI,\u201d<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> by Planet DDS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article was written by Planet DDS staff and originally published on DrBicuspid.com.\u00a0 Artificial intelligence for X-ray analysis and revenue cycle management automation were the hot trends in dental support&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1417,379],"tags":[26,27,467,329,109,13,176,657,511,147],"class_list":["post-10740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","category-denticon","tag-cloud-software","tag-dental-practice","tag-dental-practice-management-software","tag-denticon","tag-dentist","tag-dentistry","tag-efficient","tag-manage","tag-new-feature","tag-practice-management"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}