What is a Colleague Report?
Colleague Reports provide an independent evaluation of the imaging data and treatment plan generated during your diagnostic sessions.
Benefits of using Colleague Report
- Incorporates AI and human verification processes to identify blind spots in treatment planning
- Recognizes dental pathologies and enhances the patient's dental experience
- Minimizes patient harm by ensuring that the treatment plan is evidence-based
- Boosts practice profitability by confirming that no evidence-based treatment options have been overlooked
What is the verification workflow?
- Patient consultation in the clinic
- Creation of patient notes and a treatment plan in Practice Management Software (PMS); image acquisition in the imaging system
- Uploading of patient notes, treatment plan, and images to CoTreat
- De-identification of data
- Initiation of the verification process
- Notification sent to clinicians when the Colleague Report is ready
If patient notes, treatment plan and image upload process can be automated if the practice is using Dental4Windows and Centaur Mediasuite.
Areas of Dentistry Covered by Colleague Report
- Imaging (OPG, photos, bitewing radiographs)
- Periodontal disease
- Primary caries
- Congenital dental defects and conditions
- Tooth-specific wear
- Tooth-specific acid erosion
- Cracked teeth (CTS)
- Broken or chipped teeth
- Retained deciduous teeth, supernumerary, unerupted, impacted teeth
- Gum recession & non-carious cervical lesions
- Endodontics
- Extractions (retained roots, hopeless teeth etc)
- Other non-malignant odontogenic observations (resorption etc)
- Concerns with existing restorations (eg: secondary caries, overhangs, open contacts, RCT without crown, large direct restorations etc)
- Orthodontics
- Wisdom teeth
- Restorable edentulous space
- Aesthetics (whitening, veneers etc)
Note: Colleague Reports are not diagnostic; they offer observations based on available imaging data and assess the evidence supporting the proposed treatment. CoTreat does not screen for oral cancer, lymphadenopathy, or other soft tissue anomalies. Dentists are still required to perform comprehensive or periodic oral examinations.
The verification process
Initial Analysis by CoTreat AI
During the AI analysis, the following steps occur:
- De-identification of patient images to safeguard personal data
- Classification of image types
- Identification and labeling of teeth with their FDI numbers
- Suggestion of observations where sufficient training data is available
Human Verification
After AI processing, the case moves to our human verification phase:
- An assigned human verifier reviews the report
- Relevant images and observations are recorded for each checklist item:
- Insufficient data for observation
- NAD (No Abnormality Detected)
- Category-specific observations selected from a dropdown list, based on reputable guidelines
- Location of pathology or issue is noted
- Each treatment plan item is checked for sufficient supporting evidence
- Verifier provides an assessment, such as:
- Insufficient data
- Treatment is appropriate
- Query this treatment (flagged for potential harm)
- Submission for review
- Verifier provides an assessment, such as:
Second Human Review
A different human verifier reviews and gives final approval to the report.
Verification Report Finished
The report is finalized, presenting all findings to help align treatment plans with evidence-based guidelines.