081: Virtual, Not AI - in Dentistry

Welcome to No Silver Spoons, the podcast that tells it like it is when it comes to leadership, business, and building something real. Now in its third season, this show is hosted by Sarah Beth Herman, a five-time CEO who's built five personal brands, making over eight figures while staying for the communities she's served. Why No Silver Spoons? Because in leadership, no one hands you success on a platter. There's no shortcut, no easy pass, and definitely no Silver Spoon. It takes grit, intentionality, and showing up as the core version of you. This podcast is about what happens when you put in the work and take ownership of your path. When you decide to build it step by step, no excuses. Every week, you'll get tools, stories, and fresh perspectives to keep you moving toward the results you want. You'll walk away with clarity and focus on what actually moves the needle without the fluff. And with Sarah Beth's sharp insight, infectious energy, and no nonsense approach, you'll remember why you're here. To lead, to grow, and to make it happen. So buckle up. This isn't just another podcast. This is No Silver Spoons. Let's get to work. Now here's your host, Sarah Beth Herman. Welcome in. Whether you are on your way to work sipping coffee, hiding from your to-do list, or hiding from your first patient today, this episode is going to be just for you. I'm Sarah Beth, and you're listening to No Silver Spoons, where we get real about business, leadership, and everything in between. And today, this episode is brought to you by Dentistry Support, where we believe in being virtual, not AI. Yes, there is a difference. And by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what I mean. So let's just say it. AI is everywhere right now. Everyone from small startups to the biggest DSOs are talking about incorporating AI right in their systems, in the hopes that it will boost results. But here's the reality no one's talking about enough. AI isn't always reliable when it comes to the real-life, detailed, and high-stakes admin work in Dentistry. And that high-stakes admin work is what I want you to hold on to as you listen to this episode, and the statistics and information that I'm going to share with you today. We're going to unpack what being virtual actually means, and then we're going to explore where AI fits beautifully into Dentistry, and where it's simply not ready, in my opinion. And more importantly, we're going to discuss why human beings, people who have lived and breathed this industry, are still the most powerful tools in your dental practice. This is about honest leadership and helping teams like yours thrive without overloading them. If not a tech bashing episode, it's a truth-telling one. This episode also expands on a previously recorded episode, where I go into detail on AI as it specifically pertains to eligibility verification in Dentistry. That is episode nine. I also have a free training section at dentistrysupport.com/freetraining that expands on a few secrets on how all of that works. That is linked in the show notes. Let's go ahead and break down all of the AI and virtual stuff together. The AI craze and dental admin. AI is fast. It can help you automate things like sorting emails, logging x-rays, or even suggesting code. That's really, really exciting. But when we talk about the business side of a dental office, claims processing, payment posting, verifying eligibility, handling denials, and, dare I mention, the AI that calls patients and speaks to them. Now, I'm not talking about just sending a text message or an email to confirm an appointment. I mean actual AI that is a true robot calling your patient, talking about their appointment, and confirming that appointment. It's crazy, but it's totally implemented already. We are now in a territory where incomplete information or inaccurate mapping creates financial risk. It's the truth. Many of the AI platforms in dentistry today, they're just not complete. They are interpreting data based on how they are programmed, not how real offices operate, and that interpretation, it still requires a human to double check. One dental industry analysis from the Povarthi group showed that even in high-performing AI systems, complex claim cases and follow-ups were escalated to a trained staff 100% of the time. That's not a glitch. That's the reality. The American Dental Association also emphasized that AI tools do not independently handle administrative complexity. Rather, they serve to assist in identifying patterns and highlighting potential claim errors. But human review is still necessary to validate those insights. So if you're running a business where accuracy affects cash flow, you know that guesswork can't be tolerated. Offices relying solely on AI systems often end up hiring additional human support to catch what the software actually misses. That's not efficiency, that's expensive rework. And more often than not, you're going to find that the software is built by developers with limited day-to-day experience in the front office of a dental practice. And that right there literally shocks me that we're using the software that is created by people who don't really know what the day-to-day looks like. And while I do think there is a place for dentists to actually talk to these developers, I think more of these developers need to take a look at those that are in the day-to-day of the front office, of the practice of managing the actual business versus the dentist who's doing the treatment versus the dental hygienist who's seeing the patients. There's more to what AI and dentistry needs to accomplish than just having a dentist that's created it or just having some really smart tech company create it with minimal input from what that front office experience or dental practice looks like. Let's take a minute to just talk about something that everyone dreads. And if you've never been through this before, maybe you don't know. But we're going to talk about software conversions because that is so popular right now. You know, 30, 40 years ago there was like one software that existed for dental practices to use as practice management software. And today there are so many, it is unbelievable. I mean, at my company, Dentistry Support, we literally service practices all over the United States and my team is cross-trained in nearly every software. And if we come across a brand new one that we don't have as much experience in, we literally put our team through training. It is unbelievable the systems that exist today. But switching from one dental software to another often sounds like this fresh start, this really exciting opportunity for your practice to just start over because everybody in your office has gripes and complaints about software A. And so software B is a brand new fresh start. But unless it's mapped perfectly, what actually happens is a disaster. When payer IDs, provider setups, fee schedules, custom codes, ledgers, when they don't convert right, the whole claims process collapses. And here's where AI steps in. Maybe it flags mismatches. Maybe it notices discrepancies. But it doesn't fix it. That still takes a human. You need someone who understands how these pieces work in real life, not someone relying on a rule-based system with zero context. That's why at Dentistry Support, when we help with software switches and those conversions, we actually manually audit data and workflows. We don't rely on automation to protect your money. I've been through nearly 150 individual dental practice conversions, everything from leaving Eaglesoft, Dentrix, OpenDental, Tab 32, Carestack, and going to a completely new list of all other ones. Every software company promising the world. Every conversion I have seen has required a human safety net. No matter what software it is, no matter how advanced it is, we've seen missed insurance assignments, garbled treatment codes, even data loss during integrations. AI might be able to help predict where problems will show up, but only a person can catch the nuance of a provider's unique fee structure or the weird exceptions on a Delta dental policy. Most practices don't realize how fragile their data is until after they've gone live with a new platform and then things stop flowing. A great example of this is an office that we supported out of Florida. They left an old archaic system. They went to a brand new system. I won't mention the office or the software. They had been a client of ours for about three and a half years. Everything with their service was amazing. When we came on board, we had actually uncovered a huge theft issue. When they transferred to that new software, they did it without our support. The representative who was handling the conversion stated that they didn't need any outside help and that their software could do everything for them. That conversion went through and you can guess it. That client is actually no longer a client of dentistry support. They thought that the way the conversion happened and the way their ledgers looked after the conversion was a result of the work dentistry support provided, but it actually wasn't. It was the result of a terrible conversion, a conversion that didn't have things mapped the way it should have and ultimately it ended up ruining their system. Now, let's be honest for a minute. Software companies, they often oversell their ability to convert data seamlessly and I think that's where the miss happens. We don't need to oversell these things. If you have a great software, that's awesome. Talk about what your software does and what it will look like once it's done properly. Setting good expectations, you will need to have virtual human support that can save the day or an in-office person that really gets what it looks like to do conversion. Let's shift to what I meant in earlier in this episode when I said virtual, not AI. What does that mean? Let's make this clear. Virtual support, virtual team members, it doesn't mean robotic. It means human and at dentistry support when we say virtual, we mean that we are real humans doing real work for real dental practices. We answer phones, we verify dental insurances, medical insurances, we post payments, we send claims, we do credentialing, all with empathy, accuracy and experience. And what sets us apart isn't the perfection in what we do every day, is that we actively look for imperfections so that we can improve. That's what elite support is about. We course correct daily, we stay curious, we own the role of being an extension of your team. AI may enhance processes but at dentistry support we are the process. You don't need a chat bot, you need someone who understands when a claim needs additional narratives or how to interpret a carrier's bizarre payout history. Virtual doesn't mean disconnected, it means your practice is supported from anywhere by people who take ownership like they're in the next room. I'm proud to lead this team that doesn't need to pretend to be perfect because we pursue progress with purpose. Our clients don't want a perfect team, they want someone who is present and that is who and what we are. Our team has a fully HIPAA compliant chat system where you have immediate access to your team. There is nothing better than hiring someone virtually and be able to connect with them at all times whenever you need to. And no email is not a replacement for what I'm talking about and nor is the phone because if you know anything about dental those are both huge HIPAA violations. I guess be real for a minute. The administrative life in dentistry is stressful. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is something not enough people in dentistry talk about and if we don't say it our teams just suffer in silence. They sit at the front desk overwhelmed with phone calls, insurance breakdowns, rejected claims, EOB confusion, schedule management and all the other things I'm not even mentioning right now. And yet we expect them to smile at patients, upsell products, explain treatment plans, follow up on treatment plans that have already been explained and it's just this recipe for burnout because in addition to all of those you've got all of the leadership that happens in your office, all of the P&L's, ordering, cleaning, time off requests, payroll, so many things that are happening from the administrative standpoint. So I want to help you by giving you some information on what your in-office team could do instead of all the stuff that really is stressing them out. One, they can support treatment presentation and case acceptance. That in itself is such a full-time job as you know that a really really great dental practice has a 40% case acceptance. The average dental practice has a 15% case acceptance. So when I say supporting treatment plan, presentations and case acceptance is something they could be doing, that could take up their entire day. Engaging with patients during their visits, managing team morale and internal operations, helping build reviews and local outreach, building relationships that create life-long patient loyalty, working on your referral programs. And virtual support, like what dentistry support provides, it fills the gaps in your practice. Insurance verifications are done in advance, claims are sent, scrubbed and followed up, payments are posted accurately and timely, reports are audited and reconciled, and all of that done offsite by humans who know dentistry. According to a 2024 survey by the American Dental Association, over 68% of front office team members report feeling overwhelmed on a weekly basis. And one in three say that they consider leaving the field altogether due to admin overload. That tells us that this isn't just about efficiency, it's actually about retention, team wellness and long-term sustainability. As leaders, if we're not making it easier for our team to focus on care, we are silently allowing stress to lead. There is nothing noble about doing everything all alone. This episode is proudly sponsored by dentistry support. We're not artificial, we're not software, we are real people supporting your dental office virtually, so you can get back to what matters most, providing care. Whether it's insurance eligibility, billing, scheduling or cleanup projects, our elite team acts as an extension of yours. Visit dentistrysupport.com to learn how we help offices like yours eliminate stress, reduce backlogs and grow with confidence. Because we believe no one should face the pressure of running a dental business alone. Our goal is to give you time back, clarity in your process and partnership that feels like family. When we say we're different, we don't mean flashy, we mean consistent. Results driven and people powered. Look, I'm not against AI. There is absolutely a beautiful place for it at dentistry and diagnostics where it helps detect disease early, in treatment planning tools, in predictive scheduling and analytics. But when it comes to financial processes, admin systems, human interaction and claim accuracy, that's a human game right now. It always has been, and in my opinion, it always will be. And if we teach our teams to fear of being replaced instead of embracing smart virtual support systems, we lose the chance to evolve the right way. AI is not your enemy, but real people are still your best asset. I'm not saying don't use tech. I'm saying use it intelligently. Use it to support the humans in your practice, not erase them. Augmented workflows? Sure, but always review what's being automated. Teachers' theme that grove is about clarity, not chaos. And above all, invest in support systems that scale with you, not in place of you, because in the end, it's people who build legacies. Let's wrap up this episode today. Today, we talked about why dentistry support is virtual and not AI. We explored why AI alone can't handle dental admin, the dangers of incomplete data and system conversions. The reality that admin is stressful and ignoring that hurts your team, practical ways your in-office team can thrive when virtual support handles the load, and the real difference between automation and human intuition. And here's what I want you to take away. The highest level of excellence isn't pretending to be perfect. It's being bold enough to improve every single day. And that's what we do at dentistry support. The future isn't black and white. It's human-led and tech-enhanced. And in the hands of those willing to lead with integrity, the result can be incredible. You don't have to choose between modern and mindful. Just choose intentionally. And when you do, watch your team rise. If this episode gave you something to think about, share it with a fellow dental office owner, practice manager, or anyone who needs to hear that you can get the support you need without replacing your team or your soul. You don't need silver spoons. You need real solutions. And that's why I'm here. Until next time, I'm Sarah Beth, and this is No Silver Spoons. I'll catch you on the next episode. Thanks for joining us in another episode of No Silver Spoons, powered by dentistry support. Remember, success doesn't come with shortcuts and leadership doesn't come with a silver spoon. It's built on hard work, intentional action, and the decision you make every day to keep moving forward. If you're ready to connect or join the conversation, text us using the link in the show notes or visit sarahbathherman.com for more. And while you're there, don't miss our digital library, packed with tools to help you keep growing and leading with purpose. Keep showing up, keep doing the work, and know this. You've got everything it takes. We'll see you next time on No Silver Spoons.