The Hidden Cost of Screen Time in Dentistry—and the Rise of Ambient AI

Technology has transformed dentistry, streamlining record-keeping, digitizing imaging, and making information more accessible than ever. Today, a clinician can pull up a full patient history in seconds, view detailed radiographs from multiple visits, and instantly access treatment records from across the patient’s care journey.

But these advancements have come with a cost: they require clinicians to shift attention away from the patient and toward the screen.

Electronic health records, imaging software, and practice management systems are essential to modern dentistry, but they can also be cumbersome. These tools often create micro-disruptions that disrupt the flow of conversation, making patients less likely to share concerns or ask questions. They also increase the clinician’s cognitive load, forcing them to juggle listening, diagnosing, and documenting—all in real time.

Over the course of a day, these small moments add up. And over the course of a longer time period, they contribute to burnout, missed opportunities for care, and a more transactional patient experience.

The irony is that the very tools designed to help us deliver better, more efficient dentistry can—if not carefully integrated—get in the way of delivering the human connection patients expect and deserve.

The Cost of Divided Attention

Dentistry is a profession built on trust, which is strengthened through empathy, active listening, and clear communication. But every time a clinician turns to type a note, scroll through a digital chart, or hunt for the right screen in the PMS, attention shifts. This split focus changes the quality of the interaction. Patients pick up on subtle cues: delayed responses, distracted body language, or the sense that their provider’s mind is on something else.

Clinically, divided attention increases the risk of:

• Missing or forgetting important details from the patient conversation: Miscommunication is behind nearly 33% of missed, cancelled, or rescheduled dental appointments, often because key details or expectations are not clearly captured or conveyed during patient–provider interactions.
• Recording incomplete notes that require follow-up work: Disruptions and divided attention don’t just affect the moment in the chair—they often push documentation into after-hours catch-up. In many cases, dentists only realize that notes were incomplete, or that patients left unsatisfied, once follow-up becomes necessary.
• Overlooking early cues that could lead to timely interventions: In specialties requiring multiple visits (such as orthodontics), up to 34% of missed appointments are linked to failures in communication or attention—potentially causing clinicians to overlook warning signs or early intervention opportunities that would have improved outcomes

Operationally, it often means notes are finished after hours, which drains clinician energy and erodes work-life balance.

What Ambient AI Really Means in Dentistry

Ambient AI describes technology that works in the background—listening, interpreting, and capturing relevant details, without requiring active interaction from the clinician or care team. 

In medicine, ambient clinical intelligence tools are already helping physicians by transcribing conversations in real time, automatically populating EHR fields with structured data, and suggesting next steps or flagging missing documentation.

For dentistry, the vision is clear. Ambient systems can:

• Capture relevant aspects of patient–provider conversations from the moment they check in.
• Integrate imaging analysis alongside verbal findings.
• Link notes directly to treatment planning, scheduling, and patient communication.

The goal is simple: clinicians are fully present while the AI handles the operational and administrative lift.

How Ambient Capabilities Are Already Proving Valuable

At VideaHealth, we’ve already seen how ambient intelligence can work in a dental setting. Our OrthoAI and ImplantAI products surface high-probability treatment opportunities by analyzing routine X-rays, helping teams act earlier, without requiring additional steps or separate workflows:

• OrthoAI automatically reviews radiographs to identify orthodontic treatment opportunities. Within weeks of activation, practices saw a 12-fold increase in 3D scans for patients with a high likelihood of aligner conversion, driven by clinical insights and prior treatment history
• ImplantAI evaluates X-rays to flag potential implant candidates and recommends next steps, embedding findings directly into the clinician’s existing workflow.

These tools show what happens when AI takes on the passive, behind-the-scenes work: clinicians get timely, relevant insights exactly when they need them, without breaking focus from the patient.

Without this kind of AI support, practices face a difficult choice: either spend 30–45 minutes scanning every patient—straining chair time and staff resources—or scan no one and risk missing valuable treatment opportunities altogether. Both approaches lead to inefficiencies, either in wasted time or lost care opportunities.

The Next Step: Ambient Voice Meets Dental Intelligence

Across healthcare, ambient voice solutions are already changing the way providers capture clinical information. In dentistry, these systems can passively listen during patient interactions, transcribe relevant details, and help eliminate the need for manual note-taking.

While existing vendors focus solely on voice capture, VideaHealth is uniquely positioned to take this further than any other ambient provider. By combining the value of voice with our leadership in dental imaging AI, we can create a more complete and connected clinical record:

• Imaging insights surface potential treatment opportunities in the background.
• Voice-derived data captures patient context, preferences, and clinical conversations.
• Together, these inputs produce a unified, richer dataset directly tied to treatment planning, case acceptance, and patient communication.

Where others can only document what’s said, VideaHealth can pair it with what’s seen—creating a new standard for ambient intelligence in dentistry..

Why This Matters Now

The future of dental care will be imaging and voice working together in an ambient manner. When technology works invisibly in the background, it stops being a distraction and starts being an enabler.

Ambient AI reduces screen time, improves documentation accuracy, and allows clinicians to be fully present, strengthening patient relationships while streamlining operations. And as products like OrthoAI, ImplantAI, and additional voice-powered capabilities continue to evolve, the potential for connected, frictionless dentistry will only grow.

The future is about enabling clinicians to do what they do best, while technology takes care of the rest. Stay tuned, lots more to come on this moving forward! 

FAQs

1. What is ambient AI, and how is it different from traditional dental AI?

Ambient AI refers to technology that works in the background—listening, interpreting, and capturing insights—without requiring the clinician to stop and interact with it. In dentistry, that means automatically pulling information from conversations and X-rays and connecting it directly into workflows. Traditional dental AI, by contrast, often requires manual steps like uploading images or reviewing separate reports, which can disrupt the clinical flow.

2. Does ambient AI replace the clinician’s judgment?
Not at all. Ambient AI is designed to support, not replace, clinical decision-making. It reduces administrative burden, highlights opportunities, and ensures nothing is missed—while leaving final diagnosis and treatment decisions in the hands of the dentist.

3. What problems does ambient AI actually solve?
It reduces after-hours documentation, minimizes missed or incomplete notes, and helps clinicians focus on patient care rather than software navigation. It also ensures that high-probability treatment opportunities (like aligners or implants) are identified consistently, so treatment requirements don’t slip through the cracks.

4. How does ambient AI impact the patient experience?
Patients notice when their provider is distracted by screens. Ambient AI allows clinicians to stay present—listening, engaging, and building trust—while the technology works invisibly in the background to capture and connect the necessary information.

5. How does Ambient AI fit into existing dental workflows?

Ambient AI is designed to work in the background, enhancing the systems practices already use rather than adding new ones. It integrates directly with imaging setups and practice management systems, capturing insights from X-rays and conversations and surfacing them within existing workflows. This means clinicians don’t need extra clicks, new logins, or separate platforms—AI insights simply appear where they’re most useful, supporting better patient care without disrupting day-to-day operations.