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We’re revamping our Making Rounds column, where we feature experts in the healthcare industry and highlight what they do, the challenges and misconceptions they face, and the parts of their jobs that bring them the most joy.
In this edition, we’re featuring dental artificial intelligence (AI) startup Overjet’s Chief Dental Officer Teresa Dolan, who oversees real-world applications of its AI platform.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in healthcare?
I oversee a team of experienced dentists who collaborate closely with our engineers, machine learning scientists, and product teams. We guide how the AI is trained and evaluated so that it can accurately detect dental disease from X-rays and data from the patient’s record. I also bring in feedback from the field. I spend a lot of time speaking with dental practices, DSOs [dental service organizations], and insurers to understand what’s working, what’s broken, and where AI can genuinely help.
So while I’m responsible for ensuring clinical accuracy, I’m equally focused on usefulness. If a feature is technically impressive but doesn’t make a dentist’s life easier or improve care, we rethink it.
What’s the best change you’ve seen at a place you’ve worked?
The shift from building tools in isolation to developing solutions alongside clinicians. That’s been a major turning point, both for Overjet and the broader industry.
Early on, a lot of health tech companies focused heavily on what was possible with technology. They weren’t always solving real problems, or they built things that didn’t fit into clinical workflows. Now, there’s a much stronger feedback loop between the people developing the product and the people using it.
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What healthcare trend are you most optimistic about?
Preventive care, especially when it’s supported by personalized data. We’re getting better at identifying risk earlier, and that changes everything.
Historically, much of dentistry has been reactive. A patient comes in with a problem, and we fix it. But when we can identify risk factors early, through imaging, genomics, patient history, and now AI, we can intervene before disease progresses. That’s better for the patient and more efficient for the system.
AI plays a key role here. It can highlight subtle changes on an X-ray, flag missed diagnoses, and show patients exactly what’s happening in their mouths in a visual, understandable way. That transparency helps patients engage earlier and more actively in their care.
What healthcare trend are you least optimistic about?
The rising cost of dental education.
The average dental student now graduates with $350,000 in debt. That limits their choices. Many feel pressured to enter private practice immediately, often in high-income areas, just to manage their loans. That’s understandable, but it makes it harder to recruit dentists into underserved communities, academia, or public health, all areas where we need more investment.
It also impacts diversity. Students from lower-income backgrounds may not even consider dentistry because of the up-front cost. And without diverse perspectives in the profession, we risk missing important cultural, linguistic, and community-specific aspects of care.
If we want to reduce disparities and expand access to oral healthcare, we need to address the financial barriers that are shaping who enters the field and what roles they pursue.