In the first quarter of 2026, the dental industry crossed a threshold that had been building for years: virtually every major dental service organization in North America now has an enterprise AI strategy in place. What was once an emerging technology bet by a handful of forward-thinking groups has become table stakes.
This report catalogs the wave of deployments announced between January and April 2026, examines which AI vendors are winning the enterprise race, and looks at what comes next as clinical and operational AI begin to converge.
The Q1 2026 Deployment Wave
The pace of announcements in early 2026 was unlike anything the dental industry has seen. In the span of roughly 90 days, DSOs representing thousands of practice locations committed to enterprise-wide AI deployments. Here is every major deal, in chronological order.
NADG + Overjet Voice (January 8, 2026)
North American Dental Group became the first enterprise DSO to implement clinical Voice AI, deploying Overjet Voice across all 216 supported locations in 15 states.
“We’re giving our teams 5+ hours back every work week.” — NADG CEO
The deployment signaled that AI in dental was expanding beyond imaging and into the clinical workflow itself, with voice-driven documentation and charting.
Coast Dental + Pearl (January 28, 2026)
Coast Dental deployed Pearl across all 88 practices, serving approximately one million patients annually. The group described Pearl as a “unified intelligence layer” for its radiograph analysis workflows.
Aspen Dental + VideaHealth (February 3, 2026)
Aspen Dental, one of the largest DSOs in the United States, rolled out VideaHealth across its 1,100+ offices and 2,000+ dentists in a six-week deployment window. Internally, the initiative was branded “Aspen Intelligence.”
During the pilot phase, Aspen reported a 12% increase in treatment acceptance — a metric that directly ties AI to revenue impact, not just diagnostic accuracy.
PDS Health + Pearl (February 3, 2026)
PDS Health (formerly Pacific Dental Services) announced a full enterprise rollout of Pearl across its 1,100+ dental practices. The organization said it selected Pearl after a “comprehensive evaluation of the dental AI landscape” — a sign that procurement processes for dental AI have matured significantly.
Great Expressions Dental Centers + VideaHealth (February 24, 2026)
Great Expressions Dental Centers (GEDC) deployed VideaHealth across its 210+ practices in just two weeks. The speed of deployment underscores how much smoother integration has become as vendors and DSOs gain experience with enterprise rollouts.
DECA Dental + Pearl (February 24, 2026)
DECA Dental Group rolled out Pearl across approximately 200 practices in nine states. DECA reported “measurable improvements in case acceptance” during its pilot, adding to the growing body of evidence that AI-assisted imaging translates to higher treatment uptake.
Sonrava Health + Overjet (April 7, 2026)
Sonrava Health (formerly Western Dental) deployed Overjet across its 450+ practices and 1,200+ doctors, making it one of the largest Overjet implementations to date.
The Foundation: Heartland Dental + VideaHealth
No discussion of DSO AI deployments is complete without acknowledging the deal that set the template. Heartland Dental completed its VideaHealth rollout across 2,300+ practices and 20,000+ clinicians in 2024, then deepened the integration throughout 2025. It remains the largest dental AI deployment in history.
The numbers speak for themselves: 95%+ daily usage among clinicians, and 125,000 early-stage decay cases treated with AI-generated insights in 2024 alone. Heartland proved that dental AI could scale — and that clinicians would actually use it.
Vendor Scorecard: Who Is Winning the Enterprise Race?
Three vendors dominate the clinical AI imaging space for DSOs. Here is where each stands as of Q1 2026, measured by confirmed enterprise locations:
| Vendor | Major DSO Partners | Est. Locations |
|---|---|---|
| VideaHealth | Heartland Dental (2,300+), Aspen Dental (1,100+), GEDC (210+), GPS Dental (100+), DentalCorp (550+) | ~4,260+ |
| Pearl | PDS Health (1,100+), DECA Dental (200), Coast Dental (88) | ~1,388+ |
| Overjet | Sonrava Health (450+), DCA (400+), NADG (216) | ~1,066+ |
VideaHealth holds a commanding lead, largely thanks to the Heartland Dental relationship that gave it a first-mover advantage at scale. Pearl’s PDS Health win was the biggest single new contract announced in Q1 2026, and positions it well for continued growth. Overjet has differentiated with its Voice AI product and maintains strong relationships with mid-market DSOs.
Combined, these three vendors now serve an estimated 6,700+ practice locations across the largest dental organizations in North America. The clinical imaging AI market for DSOs is effectively a three-horse race.
Beyond Imaging: The Operational AI Frontier
While imaging AI has dominated the headlines, a parallel revolution is underway in the front office. Scheduling, patient communication, recall campaigns, and phone management are all being automated — and the market is moving fast.
Planet DDS Launches DentalOS AI Agents
On February 26, 2026, Planet DDS launched its DentalOS AI Agents — autonomous scheduling and appointment confirmation agents that live directly inside the practice management system. This is significant because it represents AI moving from a bolt-on integration to a native PMS capability.
Weave Acquires TrueLark
In May 2025, Weave acquired TrueLark for $35 million, bringing AI-powered front-office automation into Weave’s existing communication platform. The deal consolidated two players and signaled that the market for patient communication AI is maturing rapidly.
A Growing Field of Competitors
The front-office AI space now includes a range of players taking different approaches: Weave/TrueLark with its combined communication and automation platform, NexHealth focusing on patient engagement infrastructure, Dental Intelligence emphasizing analytics-driven automation, and Viva AI, which combines inbound and outbound AI into a single platform. Each is carving out a distinct approach to the same fundamental challenge: how to manage patient communication at scale without proportionally scaling headcount.
What’s Next: The Convergence of Clinical and Operational AI
The most consequential development in dental AI may not be any single deployment, but the inevitable convergence of clinical and operational AI into integrated systems.
Consider the current state: a DSO might use VideaHealth for imaging analysis, Overjet Voice for clinical documentation, and a separate platform for patient communication and scheduling. Each system generates valuable data, but they operate in silos.
The next frontier is connecting these layers. Imagine a system where an AI-detected finding on a radiograph automatically triggers a treatment plan, generates a patient-friendly explanation, schedules the follow-up appointment, sends reminders in the patient’s preferred language, and tracks whether the patient follows through — all without manual intervention.
No single vendor offers this end-to-end capability today. But the pieces are falling into place:
- Clinical AI vendors are expanding beyond imaging into voice documentation and clinical decision support.
- PMS platforms like Planet DDS are embedding AI agents directly into their workflows.
- Communication platforms are adding intelligence layers that go beyond simple appointment reminders to proactive outreach and patient engagement.
For DSOs, the strategic question is shifting from “should we adopt AI?” to “how do we integrate multiple AI systems into a coherent technology stack?” The organizations that solve this integration challenge first will likely see compounding advantages in clinical outcomes, patient retention, and operational efficiency.
The Bottom Line
Q1 2026 marked the moment when dental AI moved from early adoption to industry standard. The data is unambiguous:
- 6,700+ practice locations now run enterprise clinical AI from the three leading imaging vendors alone.
- Every top-10 DSO by practice count either has a deployed AI solution or has publicly announced one.
- Treatment acceptance lifts of 10-15% are being consistently reported across multiple deployments.
- Daily usage rates above 95% at Heartland Dental prove that clinician adoption is not the barrier it was once feared to be.
The question is no longer whether AI will reshape dentistry. It is whether the industry can integrate clinical and operational AI fast enough to realize the full potential of what these tools make possible.
This analysis is based on publicly announced partnerships and company press releases from January through April 2026. Estimated location counts are based on the most recent figures available at the time of each announcement and may have changed since.