The learning curve that kept most dentists away from digital workflows for years is gone. Not reduced -- gone. That is the argument Dr. Meena Barsoum makes in Part 4 of The DrBicuspid.com Podcast series produced in partnership with SprintRay, and he backs it with a specific reason: AI has taken over the facets that used to require a new skill set.
In this episode, Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry sits down with Barsoum, a practicing clinician in Chicago and SprintRay's global head of clinical strategy, to talk about how the dentist-lab relationship is changing; what the first 30, 60, and 90 days of implementation actually look like; and why the single biggest barrier to adoption is no longer cost or technology.
Dr. Barsoum is direct about the dentist-lab dynamic: The practices and labs that are thriving are those that have redefined the relationship. The lab's role is increasingly on the design and treatment planning side -- creating mockups, wax-ups and trial smiles -- while the dentist manufactures chairside. Labs that have embraced that model are growing. Those that have not are losing ground.
On implementation, his advice for dentists transitioning to a single-visit workflow is counterintuitive: Do not change anything at first. Keep making the provisional. Keep scheduling the second appointment. Use that window to work through the design and the chairside manufacturing process without pressure. Most dentists, he says, drop the second visit entirely within two to three weeks.
The AI piece is where the conversation gets most useful for practices on the fence. SprintRay's system automatically identifies the restoration type when a file is uploaded, builds the nesting parameters, and prepares it for printing. One click. No design training required. For practices that have been waiting for the right moment to start, Barsoum makes the case that the moment has already arrived.
Barsoum will be at Midas tour events in 70 cities worldwide this year. The full schedule and SprintRay's on-demand education platform are available here.
Listen to the full conversation in the player below.
