My dentist has an AI that reads x-rays now... I have some questions...

Went in for my cleaning Thursday and the new girl pulled up my bitewings, and there was a little computer program drawing colored boxes all over my molars... it flagged a "possible lesion" on #14 that I'm pretty sure is just my old filling from 1987... I did hygiene for 31 years so I know what a filling looks like on an x-ray!! The dentist was nice about it and said the AI is "just a second set of eyes" ok but whose eyes are getting the final say, mine or the boxes?? I'll admit it caught some bone loss on the bottom that I hadn't noticed, so it isn't useless... but I'd hate to see some young hygien

the dentist gets the final say. legally the box doesnt diagnose anything stuff like Pearl and Overjet is FDA cleared as an aid, so it flags things and a human signs off. https://www.accessdata.fda.g

well that makes me feel a little better but I've heard the insurance companies use these programs now too, and I'd hate for some box on a screen to decide what gets covered... my grandson Tyler says that's just how everything works now and I need to "relax, Grandma"!! I'll relax once that new girl stops saying "the computer says" before the dentist has even looked... Just my two cents!!

yeah the coverage part is real some insurers run claims through the same kind of software now. Overjet sells to payers too, not just dentists https://www.overjet.com

if a claim gets denied you can ask for the reason in writing and appeal it, and an actual dentist on their side has to review that. next visit just ask them to pull up the x-ray and show you what got flagged. a decent office will do that without any fuss, and if they cant explain it past "the computer says" go get a second opinion

yeah the coverage part is real some insurers run claims through the same kind of software now.

wait so teh insurance company's AI is checking the dentist's AI?? thats kind of wild... like bots arguing over my molars lol. guess i'll start asking for the actual xray report next time, if i can remember to (i forgot my own cleaning appointment twice this year oops!!)

lol you forgot it twice and i still think you're doing better than me. last time i had x-rays done the hygienist left the room and i accidentally bit the little cardboard tab clean in half, so now some machine somewhere has a picture of my jaw with half a chunk of cardboard stuck in it. tbh if the AI flagged that as a cavity i wouldnt even be mad

fwiw you can usually just ask them to pull the image up on the monitor while you're in the chair. mine did it without blinking and showed me the spots the software had circled. two of them were apparently "watch it" spots, which as far as i can tell means come back in six months and give us money again

the part that bugs me more is whether the insurance bot and the dentist bot are running the same software if they're not and they disagree, i'd wanna know who gets the final say, and my guess is whoever saves the insurance company money

my dentist did the monitor thing too. the AI had drawn little colored boxes around three spots and she just shrugged and said she'd "keep an eye on" two of them, so now i'm not sure who's actually in charge in there i'd mostly like to know if the software comes from the same company that bills my insurance. that seems worth asking about

yeah the coverage part is real some insurers run claims through the same kind of software now Overjet sells to payers too, not just dentists https://www.overjet.com

if a claim gets denied you can ask for the reason in writing and appeal it, and an actual dentist on their side has to rev...

lol so the robot finds the cavity and then a different copy of the same robot says nah you dont need that filling. tbh my dentist found two cavities last year that i never felt and the insurance only paid for one, so i guess one of my teeth just isnt covered. also your post cut off right at "if a claim gets denied" which is pretty much how that whole process goes for me too