AI in dentistry is here, right now, and it’s already changing everything.
In Episode 20 of The Technology Evangelist, sponsored by Medidenta Digital Solutions, Dr. John Flucke visits Medidenta World HQ in Las Vegas and sits down with Dr. James Mah — Harvard-trained orthodontist, UNLV clinical professor, and one of the sharpest minds in digital dentistry — for a fast-moving, no-fluff conversation about where dental education and clinical practice are actually headed.
Key Takeaways:
- Dental labs, as we know them, are disappearing. UNLV students are scanning + 3D-printing permanent-quality “endo-crowns” and temporaries in the same visit — no more “out of pain = out of mind” dropouts.
- From potato-starch models (yes, really) to metal-resin models printed in 20 minutes: Dr. Mah shows the 20-year evolution live on camera.
- Patients can now scan themselves better and faster than assistants. Published study: average 1-minute 10-second full-arch scan by a 26-year-old gamer using only written instructions.
- AI in dentistry is the next gold rush — but most of today’s “AI” is still the vending-machine-arm-stuck level of funny. The real power is coming in instant clinical feedback, material-specific prep checks, and closing the 5–10-year literature-to-chairside gap.
- UNLV has a 3D-printer “boneyard” because the duty cycle in a school kills machines, and they’re still buying every new generation of scanner and printer.
- Access-to-care bombshell: 71% of Nevadans have limited or no dental care. Solution? Mobile RV clinics + same-day fabrication + patient self-scanning = dramatically fewer visits.
- Dr. Mah’s one-word advice to new grads: be industrious. Everything else (tech, business, clinical) flows from refusing to quit when things break.
The future isn’t “will digital/AI replace dentists?” It’s “how fast can we give every dentist — and every patient — superpowers?”
Watch Episode 20 now and see potato-starch vs. modern models side-by-side. You’ll never look at your lab area the same way again.
