Public Health’s Oral Health program Wins Award

We want to take a moment to congratulate RUHS – Public Health’s Oral Health program on being recognized by the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) for their innovative project, “Dental Screenings Utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Pilot”.

They were one of 16 projects in the state that were chosen to receive a CSAC Challenge Award for their pilot that addressed an issue facing many families - cost and lack of access to dental services, which is necessary to complete every kindergartener’s oral health assessment as required per state law.

Their goal was to demonstrate that trained school staff members, equipped with Dental.com AI technology and backed by a remote dentist, could produce the same quality assessment that could be obtained by an in-person dental hygienist. Each student received an initial oral exam by two in-person dental hygienists while school staff captured photos of the inside of their mouth to submit to Dental.com. An off-site dentist reviewed each student’s information and photos to create a personalized report for the parents.

Their results? Impressive. Their methodology demonstrated equivalent, and in some cases superior, results from the assessment performed by a remote dentist compared to an in-person dental hygienist. To learn more about the pilot project, watch: https://youtu.be/liVfsoQgdXw

This pilot project would not have been possible without our partners, including California Northstate University’s (CNU) College of Dental Medicine, Riverside County Office of Education, Nuview Union School District, First 5 Riverside County and Dental.com.