Santosh Patel: Industry Insights

Industry leader Santosh Patel joins the Alta Voice Learning Series to discuss the real-world adoption of AI and its profound impact on the dental practice and patient experience.

Patel explores the industry buzz, the shift in confidence among dental groups, and the critical role of AI in moving practices beyond simple transactions. With insights from his background in multispecialty health and dental technology, he highlights how AI unlocks staff time for deeper patient engagement, addresses unscheduled treatment, and ultimately elevates patient trust and case acceptance. This conversation is an honest look at how embracing AI allows dental professionals to be more intentional and human in their care delivery.

Key takeaways:

• Why dental groups and DSOs are becoming early adopters of AI technology.
• How unlocked time from AI is reallocated to patient contact, treatment follow-up, and deeper engagement, not layoffs.
• The transition of clinicians from “expert” to “guide” as patients leverage AI for second opinions and treatment plan verification.
• How AI scribing and notation tools allow clinicians to be authentic and genuine in their patient conversations, making a four-minute appointment feel like fifteen.
• The power of predictive modeling and visual AI tools in patient education to drive emotional connection and case acceptance.
• The critical need for team adoption and the mindset shift required to embrace AI, starting with basic tools like ChatGPT.

From Santosh Patel: “Nobody, from what I am understanding, is immediately letting go of people because they implemented AI. They’re resurfacing and reallocating the time. That is time that can be reallocated… So I think that’s where you’re going to start to see the level of patient experience is actually going to go up because people have time to do it.”