Editor's Note: In Part 1, Melissa K. Turner and Michael Cembrola established that the traditional dental office model cannot, on its own, solve the access, utilization, and workforce challenges dogging the profession and that mobile dentistry and teledentistry are not niche alternatives but strategic infrastructure.
In Part 2, the conversation moves to what makes that infrastructure sustainable: how care gets paid for, how prevention gets prioritized, and where AI fits into all of it.
Melissa K. Turner, RDH.
Melissa K. Turner: Underneath all of this is prevention. And I have to say it plainly: Dentistry loves to talk about prevention, but our systems are still heavily built around repair. If we want a true prevention-first model, it cannot just be something we say in patient education scripts. It has to show up in reimbursement, benefit design, workforce utilization, data, diagnostics, and where care is actually delivered.
This is one of the reasons I keep bringing mobile, portable, and teledentistry conversations back to prevention. These models are not just about convenience. They are about reaching people earlier, more consistently, and in settings where preventive care can actually happen before disease becomes expensive. Precision prevention and personalization of care and convergence are all top of mind. Recently, the Oral Health Prevention Summit launched to move these conversations forward to ease the transition.
What does a prevention-first model look like from your perspective?
Michael Cembrola: The case for prevention has been proven. More preventive care means catching problems earlier before they become bigger, more expensive issues. There is also significant medical-dental evidence that the mouth has a direct impact on many diseases across the rest of the body.
A prevention-first model needs to do two things: incentivize providers to deliver more preventive care, and incentivize patients to actually get it. That means care happening outside the traditional office -- in schools, through mobile programs, and through virtual touchpoints.
It also means hygienists working at the top of their license, which is an important conversation happening right now. What is changing is that you can actually measure prevention now. Once you can measure it, you can build it into benefit design, network strategy, and into dentist and patient behaviors.
Turner: Access on paper is not access in real life, which is why the payer conversation matters so much. A provider directory does not mean a patient can get an appointment. A dental benefit does not mean someone receives care. A large network does not mean that the network is functioning well for the people who need it most.
And this is where mobile, virtual, and alternative models become more than nice ideas. They become network strategy. It is also why care delivery expertise matters. It is not enough to know dentistry. It is not enough to know benefits. It is not enough to know technology. The leaders who will shape what comes next need to understand how all of these pieces connect.
How are insurers thinking differently about dental networks now?
Michael Cembrola.
Cembrola: Insurers are thinking about networks differently than they were five years ago. Network adequacy is getting regulatory attention and comes up in every employer group request for proposal.
A large network that does not actually deliver adequate access to all patients is not that helpful. This is exactly where mobile and virtual models can come in, and support areas like dental deserts and insurers are starting to realize that.
The more sophisticated insurers and employers are also starting to ask quality questions, not just quantity questions. Are network providers performing? Are members getting care when they need it? Are they getting appropriate care? What does the data tell us about outcomes? There is a lot more important work that needs to be done on quality in dentistry.
Turner: This is where the conversation gets uncomfortable, but it needs to. Payment models shape care delivery. If we say we want quality, then at some point we have to ask whether quality should be paid differently. If we say we want prevention, then at some point we have to ask whether prevention should be incentivized differently. And if we say we want better outcomes, then we cannot keep building systems that reward only volume, participation discounts, or being the cheapest provider in a narrow network.
This is also where I think dental leaders have to stop separating care delivery from payment models. They are connected. The way we pay for care shapes the way care gets delivered. The way care gets delivered shapes what patients can access. And what patients can access shapes outcomes.
How much do payer economics influence what actually scales in dentistry?
Cembrola: Payer economics drive a lot of what is actually able to scale in dentistry. Tiered and narrow networks already exist across many carriers, and most people do not realize how they actually work. Generally, the top-tier networks incentivize patients with lower out-of-pocket costs, but the trade-off is that the dentists in those networks often accept lower reimbursement rates.
That is a dynamic that fundamentally needs to change, especially as the quality conversation in dental matures. Providers that deliver better care and better outcomes should be paid more.
A higher quality provider catches problems earlier, reduces rework, and treats things when they need to be treated. That is what value-based care is really about, and dentistry has a long way to go to get there. The infrastructure to measure quality at that level is being built right now, and AI is a big part of why that is finally possible.
Turner: And of course, we have to talk about AI. AI is becoming part of the infrastructure of care delivery. But not just in the obvious way.
Yes, AI is changing radiographic interpretation. Yes, it is changing documentation, communication, and clinical workflows. But AI is also going to shape claims, risk scoring, fraud detection, utilization patterns, quality measurement, medical-dental integration, and network performance. AI is part of the infrastructure of care delivery.
This is why I keep saying that the future of dentistry will not be defined by technology alone but by leaders who understand how technology, care models, payment, prevention, and patient experience come together.
What use cases should leaders be watching?
Cembrola: AI is shaping a lot in dentistry right now. Companies are doing interesting things with x-ray analysis that have real implications for how insurance claims are evaluated and processed. That is important work.
But there is also significant AI activity around medical-dental integration, building risk scores for individuals and triaging them to the right medical or dental care. That is going to be a big deal, and not only leaders but everyone should be paying attention to that.
On the network and payer side, there are three areas I am watching closely: network quality scoring; fraud, waste, and abuse detection; and predictive analytics around utilization and outcomes. These are problems that have been around for a long time, and AI is finally positioned to solve them at scale. Organizations that invest in clean, structured data now are going to run circles around the ones trying to retrofit it later.
Turner: Here is where I land: The care delivery movement is already here. It is showing up in employer-based care, in mobile dentistry, in portable dentistry, teledentistry, AI-enabled triage, medical-dental integration, prevention-first models, and payer conversations that are finally asking harder questions about access, quality, utilization, and outcomes.
But here is the part our industry needs to understand: Care delivery is no longer a niche conversation; it is becoming one of the defining leadership conversations in oral healthcare.
For my entire career, I have been helping move this conversation forward from the clinical side, the mobile side, the portable side, the teledentistry side, and now the broader industry strategy side. And what I know for sure is this: The people and organizations that understand care delivery will have a major advantage in the next era of dentistry.
Resources
For those who want to understand where this care delivery movement is headed next, the National Mobile and Teledentistry Conference is one of the places where these conversations move from theory into strategy. The next NMTC TWENTY27 will take place in Portland, OR.
For those building, practicing, operating, funding, or supporting mobile, portable, virtual, and alternative care models, the American Mobile and Teledentistry Alliance is the professional home for this movement.
Melissa K. Turner is a dental industry strategist, conference and brand architect, and founder of the HALO System, a framework focused on influence, visibility, and leadership in the age of AI. Learn more about her at www.MelissaKTurner.com.
The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.
