Dentaid - Picture perfect: How AI is aiding oral care on the production line

Artificial intelligence is all over the news, and seems to be pervading everything. Our dental and periodontal professions must surely be looking at how it will affect oral health.

In this series of interviews, the European Federation of Periodontology is exploring what our partners are doing, or perhaps NOT doing with AI.

In this interview, we talk with Cristina Ballesteros, Medical Director and Ricard Sanchez-Rico, Director of Operations for Dentaid.

Artificial Intelligence will even write a poem about your favourite dog for you if you ask it! So how can AI help in oral care? For Ricard Sanchez-Rico it is all about quality control on the Dentaid production line. “We manufacture toothbrushes as you know”, he says, “and in turn interdental brushes and these are high speed output machines.” He goes on: “we want to have 100% quality control and for that we use artificial vision.”

Put simply this means having artificial vision cameras at different angle on the production line, taking pictures of every element of the new born toothbrush. AI then learns what flaws to look for and then reject that particular brush. A filament missing or out of place is quickly spotted. Ricard says there is “100% quality control on each individual interdental toothbrush” of which 50 million are produced each year. So for Dentaid, AI is great on the production line, but what about the medical side of things? Cristina explains:“As a company, either in the investigations side, or clinical studies, we are not yet using artificial intelligence”.  However she goes on: “It is important we are using it in the commercial side. “The machine is helping with efficiency. We have many clients in many different locations, so the machine helps with efficiency geographically and also helping with individual clients’ needs.” 

AI can help identify which clients might want which samples, and when? Any medical use of AI? “Not now. We believe that AI is not a company tool, nor does it serve exclusively for a specific topic. We believe in a collective approach of all members of the oral ecosystem (societies, biotechnology companies patients, and health authorities) covering the needs from all points of view. Whilst lots of companies do gather lots of data and are starting to analyse that, Cristina feels that there isn’t quite enough to go on yet to start using AI at Dentaid in a medical sense.  Is it an aspiration for the future? Both Cristina and Ricard sum it up in one word “Yep.” Cristina expands on this: “ I think AI is a great thing and it is going to change our lives in clinical settings.  It is not yet that apparent. The idea is clear, the many uses it is going to be helping with…for example imaging and screening and diagnosis.  There are many companies working on this, but the truth is we are not yet there!”

Then there is the issue of data privacy. Where will all that data be stored, who is going to have ownership of it?  She says: “laws are running behind all this innovation.  So for Dentaid and others, there needs to be absolute assurance about how data is going to be used and implemented.” Ricard sums this up in just two words. “Its key”, he says firmly. Clinicians must decide how and where AI is used. Cristina believes dentists and periodontists have their own expertise, and it should be them that are leading this transformation into AI. “At Dentaid we are looking for travel companions in the exploitation of clinical data through AI, too. We are talking with the scientific community about how we can collaborate together.”

For Ricard it is also about not using AI blindly everywhere. “The industry needs to find the correct place to use it.  It is not about using AI because it is trendy, but we need to find practical cases of use, and that is when you engage industry.”  He adds: “if we put AI everywhere we would be crazy, we need to find the correct investments in the correct place…you can waste a lot of money on that investment.”
Remember too, AI is only as good as the data it is getting!  Feed it duff data and it will work out, very cleverly, duff results and advice! For Cristina, this is absolutely essential when it comes to clinical trials. “They are doing their clinical trials in the old way, and also doing the clinical trial by AI, and seeing if the results corelate or not”.

Collaboration is also key as AI develops and both believe the EFP has a crucial role to play here as Ricard explains: “Organisations such as the EFP have a general view of all the oral health sector and they can help companies share best practices on this field.”  It is like a glue for the companies!” He also believes: “We have to find the balance between the younger and the older generations.  Older can provide experience, the young can provide all the other things that are coming.  It is good for companies to hire this young talent.”

So will there always be a need for a human being at Dentaid? “Yes, says Ricard, “that’s a good statement, a good statement!  Humans are not in danger, at least at Dentaid.”

Phew!