Dental-Care AI Startup Pearl Raises $58 Million

Pearl, an AI startup focused on the dental industry, has raised $58 million.

The company announced its Series B in a news release Wednesday (July 24), saying it would use the funding to expand its line of dental artificial intelligence (AI) products.

“At present, Pearl’s machine learning and computer vision tools solve a core challenge in dentistry: inconsistency in diagnostic accuracy, which directly impacts the quality of patient care,” the release said. “The company’s AI serves as a real-time aid to help dentists read patient x-rays, deliver consistent, objective, and accurate diagnoses, and clearly communicate findings to patients with precision, clarity, and confidence.”

According to the release, Pearl’s software received the FDA’s first-ever clearance for AI to help dentists detect multiple pathologies and conditions in x-rays. Since then, the company has won regulatory approval in 120 other countries.

The new funding, the company said, will let Pearl accelerate the development of computer vision capabilities, such as detecting and tracking disease in 3D and other imaging modalities — and develop new AI tools geared toward patient treatment planning, insurance claim approvals and dental education.

“In the field of healthcare, dentistry has become an AI standard-bearer, demonstrating the technology’s enormous utility and benefit in day-to-day patient care — and Pearl has led the AI charge in dentistry,” said Ophir Tanz, founder and CEO of Pearl. “This historic funding round underscores the impact of Pearl’s capabilities and supports our belief that high-quality, AI-powered dental care should be accessible to everyone.”

The funding comes as AI and automation are showing the potential to improve efficiency and profitability in the healthcare field.

Payers could realize “net savings of 13 percent to 25 percent in administrative costs and 5 percent to 11 percent in medical costs” by employing currently available AI technologies, according to a report by Mckinsey & Co. That report also projects a potential “3 percent to 12 percent higher revenue” for insurers who embrace these innovations.

However, PYMNTS wrote earlier this year that there’s still some debate among medical experts about the technology’s place in their field.

“While AI can process and analyze large amounts of data quickly, the interpretation and application of this data still requires human oversight to make sure it is accurate,” said Tim Lawless, global health lead at digital consultancy Publicis Sapient.

“This is particularly true in the medical field, where the stakes are high, and the context is often complex,” he added. “The accuracy of medical chatbots also depends on their ability to understand and respond to the nuances of human language and emotion.”