Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
by Dr Nikesh Patel, Swish Dental, Everton Park, QLD
Pearl AI is a subscription-based program where X-rays are uploaded and analysed. It highlights any tooth decay, infections and bone loss. It shows how much bone is present and it has some endo uses as well.
What’s good about it
Diagnosing dental caries is not easy as it’s a skill that only comes with experience. Pearl AI is great for junior dentists who can often find it difficult to diagnose caries. To be fair, even senior dentists can miss caries so this is a fantastic tool to catch any problems and get a second opinion.
The AI program highlights different things in different colours. Decay will show if it’s within the enamel and when it has spread into the dentine, it will show the percentage. If there’s an early lesion you want to keep on eye on, you can compare the Pearl AI results between visits. It’s easy to do and quite accurate.
It’s also great for patient communication because most people can’t read an X-ray. The coloured highlights of the Pearl AI results make things very clear. It has a feature where you can change the colours between two structures to make it easier to understand.
I’ve only been using this program for a few months but I’m trusting it more and more. There are 10 dentists in our clinics and they all use it. The subscription can be cancelled at any time so the company is reliant on providing a good product. And it is a good product.
What’s not so good
It’s a constantly improving product. I examine the X-rays before looking at the results from Pearl AI. If I don’t agree with it, I’ll take another X-ray in six months’ time to compare and see if any decay is developing.
