Stop the Slow (or fast) dentistry concept

Digital Tools and Artificial Intelligence Enhance Speed of Dental Care

I was running down a main avenue in sunny beautiful Lisbon in a 46 year old pace and within all the thunderstorms of ideas, fury and crazy thoughts ( typical of a great running) I ended up thinking about the pace of dentistry.

I realized that the slow, traditional approach feels out of place in our fast-paced world where instant and immediate gratification (immediacy) prevails.

It's not about if its right or wrong seeing patients every 30 minutes or in 10 mn !!!!

Instead, it’s about efficiency, speed of processes and patient well being.

A fine balance between treat them well but not waste their precious time !

One patient , once told me : “Andre I have in my family 3 dentists I live in one and of the finest neighborhoods from Lisbon , I’m the CEO of a big company based in Zurich, i choose you and your team because you can deliver efficiency with high end Biomaterial and implant , at a great speed ! You go in and go out at incredible pace , allowing me to allocate my precious time to make a lot of money to my company ! I pay you a lot more of money … but you are not expensive !”

I definetly cannot catalog my team or my work as slow !!! Damn.!!!! I want even to be faster !!!

Waiting 40 minutes for an alginate impression to set is unnecessary when you can have a provisional ready in 15 minutes with 3D printing from an STL file generated by an intraoral scanner.

While you can appreciate the personal connection with patients, it’s essential to balance that with the speed of production. The terms “fast” or “slow” shouldn't dominate our thinking;

it's really about finding the right approach.

Imagine telling a surgeon to slow down when we know the time during surgery can impact outcomes or scheduling multiple appointments for a single implant when chair-side CAD/CAM technology can streamline the process. Yes, giving patients time is important, but branding “slow dentistry” as a trendy concept feels a bit forced.

We are not slow we are 10 times faster with double the precision than analogic.

Imagine a marketing director using the slogan Slow to target dentistry. Already people associate with fear and anxiety and now…..slow … he would be fired at least …

I understand the term might reflect concerns over corporate practices where young dentists are pushed to see patients every 20 minutes, focusing on profit over care. That's a different issue and not true dentistry.

For instance, Branemark developed an implant that took six months to osseointegrate, while Straumann created one (Sla Active) that heals in just six weeks. Can we really call that slow? Ceramists may have needed a week to create a full mouth of zirconia, but now CAD/CAM machines can accomplish it in six hours. These concepts are not about speed; they're about improved processes and outcomes

Embracing technology and incorporating artificial intelligence can help speed up clinical processes without sacrificing quality. We should aim to save time for patients, not compromise their care. Let’s embrace the future of dentistry rather than cling to outdated concepts.

Be a dentist !!! focused on quality care, not just selling dreams!

And please do remember that we are incredible fast !!!!