Key highlights

• AI can make radiographic findings easier for patients to understand. Color-enhanced images can help clinicians show patients areas of concern that may be difficult to interpret on a traditional black-and-white radiograph.
• AI should be a roadmap, not a treatment plan. Bale emphasizes that clinicians still need to confirm or reject AI findings and incorporate the patient's clinical presentation.
• Radiographs don't tell the whole story. Bone-level measurements and other AI findings need to be considered alongside probing depths, periodontal charting, caries risk, and what the clinician sees in the mouth.
• AI could help improve consistency in periodontal care. The conversation explores whether AI could help reduce variation in periodontal classification and support better communication between hygienists and dentists.
• The next phase of dental AI could extend beyond radiographs. Bale discusses potential applications in insurance information, revenue cycle management, cone beam imaging, surgery, and other areas of the practice.

Episode description

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday dental practice, but what does that actually mean for dental hygienists? On this episode of A Tale of Two Hygienists, Jessica Atkinson and Dave Torres talk with Katie Bale, head of customer engagement at Pearl and a former practicing dental hygienist, about how AI can support radiographic interpretation, patient education, periodontal assessment, documentation, and practice-wide consistency.

Bale explains why AI should be viewed as a second set of eyes or a roadmap rather than a replacement for clinical judgment. The conversation also explores the limitations of radiographic AI, the importance of combining AI findings with probing depths and other clinical information, the potential for AI to reduce inconsistency in periodontal classification, and how emerging technology could create new opportunities for hygienists beyond traditional clinical roles.

AI as a second set of eyes — 00:34

Katie Bale: It really kind of feels like a Wizard of Oz moment when she enters Oz and everything turns to color. That's how I picture my patients. They're entering Oz and seeing color on their X-rays. Adding color onto the image, we're able to easily point out what maybe the previous practice or clinician didn't see the first time.

Or we can explain that standard of care and the inconsistency that we really see in dentistry all the time. I can't even tell you how long insurance companies have been using AI to scan our claims. Longer than it was ever introduced to the doctor's hand. And that's really why I'm so passionate about Pearl and really AI in dentistry is because we're now putting the tool in the doctor's hands, in the hygienist's hands, in the office manager's hands so that we are seeing eye to eye.

Dave Torres: And welcome back, listeners, to another episode of A Tale of Two Hygienists podcast. I am your co-host, David Torres, and I'm here with my amazing co-host, Miss Jessica Atkinson. And Jess, we have September already.

Jessica Atkinson: That is crazy.

Dave Torres: How time has come and gone, and I remember when we were just talking about graduates, and right now, students have been implementing, if not getting licensed. But it's going to be a fun and exciting topic today, and I just can't contain myself. But I would love for you to introduce us to our next guest.

Jessica Atkinson: We were just talking about graduates, you said, and guess what? We have with us one of my very own graduates.

Yes, confetti, balloons. Let's get a foghorn in here because we have on the podcast today Ms. Katie Bale. And I'm so excited to introduce you to her. She is the head of customer engagement at Pearl, where she leads enterprise adoption and executive enablement for some of the country's largest DSOs.

She's a former practicing hygienist. She has spent her career at the intersection of clinical standards and real-world implementation of dental technology. So today she translates what she works, does, did chairside into what scales system-wide and what AI can do at the center of that conversation.

So I have seen Katie from her very first day as a dental hygiene student to now the head of customer engagement. Katie, woo, woo. Believe that. What a roller coaster. I can't believe that. Katie, look into my eyes. I can believe that. I believe you are one in a million, and I'm excited to talk to you about how AI is the center of the conversation about what works chairside and how we can be more calibrated as a profession. That's how I interpret the word "scales system-wide." I think of that as calibration.

Katie Bale: Absolutely. I think, too, a lot of people, though, have this misconception about AI. I know when I first joined my company and they said, "Oh, we're doing artificial intelligence."

I pictured this robot or Terminator-type thing, this computer that's super smart. It's going to learn from our movement and what we're doing chairside and eventually take all of our jobs. But I learned being at Pearl and just looking at AI overall that is certainly not the case.

So really, when we talk about system-wide, we're just talking about setting the standard with AI, what it can and can't do, just starting there.

When an X-ray starts making sense to the patient — 04:25

Dave Torres: That's amazing. Like, I know I personally use AI. And one of the biggest things, I mean, we all go through our stages of change, right? We go through the bargaining one, maybe a little anger, then comes the acceptance. And now I can't think of not using AI when it comes to patient interaction, education. And guys, even reassurance for myself, for my patient.

Because I've always said, or we hear the saying that a picture is worth 1,000 words, right? Some cases, 1,000 bucks, because how much is dentistry, right?

But when it comes to being able to take an X-ray and explain to the patient, you know what, an X-ray is black and white. I can turn blue in the face, explain an X-ray, but you toggle on AI and it just—colors appear, measurements happen, and it kind of helps bridge the gap.

How are we having these conversations with our patients? And Katie, how is it that as we implement these things, are we noticing a positive feedback from maybe not so much the clinicians, but also the patients? Are patients asking for this or they're just walked by it?

Katie Bale: Absolutely. Our patients are asking for it. Really, today in 2026, AI has become a huge buzzword. You see it everywhere with what Claude is doing, ChatGPT. You're seeing it on LinkedIn. You're seeing it on Facebook. AI is very much at the forefront of everybody's minds.

So I think we're to a point of not that people are asking for it, but what can AI do for me? And what can it do for me as a hygienist in practice?

And you're absolutely right. When I was a hygienist, I would turn the X-ray to my patient and say, "Do you see this cobweb stuff? That's your bone. And this dark gray area is a little concerning, but this dark gray area, totally normal." And I'm basically showing them this inkblot test. And I say, "And that'll be $1,000."

But with color, their eyes light up and they say, "I do see what you're pointing at. I do see that incipient lesion that could use Curodont. I can see that infection now."

And we're not talking in shades of gray anymore. We're talking in pinks and blues and greens, Technicolor. Yeah. And it really kind of feels like a Wizard of Oz moment when she enters Oz and everything turns to color. That's how I picture my patients. They're entering Oz and seeing color on their X-rays.

A built-in second opinion — 06:55

Jessica Atkinson: And I think it's a built-in second opinion. So often patients are like, "Four out of five dentists say four out of five things."

And four out of five dental hygienists say four out of five different things. And while I would like to wave a magic wand and have us all practice at an excellence of care, not everybody is.

And when you go to an office that maybe you're having a different experience, [unclear phrase in original transcript]. So, for those of you who didn't see because you're listening to me, I just lifted up my hand and I had my flosser I was just using before this podcast in my hand and it distracted me. Anyway—

You have that second opinion right there.

And I say I was a patient that was going to an office every six months for years. But my husband's like, "Oh, your breath is so bad." I'm like, "What's the deal? I brush my teeth every day. I've been going to the dentist every six months."

But in fact, I had not ever received the treatment that my condition required.

And then I go to a brand-new office where before I thought I was being cared for. And now this new office, they're asking me for thousands of dollars because I have periodontal disease.

Tell us what AI can help with those situations, how AI helps in those situations. Absolutely.

Katie Bale: Well, one, of course, that color we just discussed, right? By adding color onto the image, we're able to easily point out what maybe the previous practice or clinician didn't see the first time.

Or we can explain that standard of care and the inconsistency that we really see in dentistry all the time.

A patient goes to hygienist or Dr. A and Dr. A says, "You have four cavities that we need to fill." And that's just based on that doctor's interpretation of those shades of gray.

Patient goes and gets a second opinion down the road from Dr. B, hygienist B, and they go, "No, you actually only need two fillings."

Again, that's based on their interpretation of those varying shades of gray. And that patient leaves thinking, "Well, Dr. A is wanting more money from me. They were just trying to find treatment on me that I didn't need."

And that inherently adds distrust in dentistry and is a huge problem.

So going back to your question, Jessica, I think it's important to explain that we're setting that baseline by using AI. It is evaluating all those thousands of pixels that are naked to the human eye so that we can be more thorough, we can act quicker, and ultimately that saves the patient time, money, expense in the chair.

And I think explaining that we have these robotic eyes to evaluate their X-rays really opens their mind to, "Oh, I'm being treated better."

On top of that, though, something to consider as we move into an AI world, we have to consider in medicine, they have had AI for a long time.

They are using it every day in mammograms, looking for breast cancer. They use it a lot in chest X-rays, scanning for COVID so that they can catch these types of things early. So why are we not doing that in dentistry today?

And so again, it really helps the patients see that and understand it. And I don't know about you two, but I'm to the point where I'm like, if you don't have AI scanning my radiographs, I don't feel we're being as thorough as we can be.

What happens when teams bring AI into the practice? — 10:45

Dave Torres: It kind of seems like, I mean, the more I really think about it, I mean, we can practice dental hygiene, but most of us use our dental loupes, right? And it's just like we can't practice without them.

I know if I work in multiple practices and I leave my loupes, I go back and I'm like, "Hold on, guys, I cannot get started unless I have my loupes."

But it seems to me like AI is so much more for the patient and leaning toward the patient's point of view. And it's like their little dental loupes, right? They can see a lot more things that they couldn't see before, rather.

And so I'm curious, as teams integrate this into their office, in their practice, what are some of the mistakes that they make with integrating AI in their office?

Katie Bale: That's a great question. I think a lot of times they see these conditions shown on the radiographs, whether that's caries or calculus, bone level alerts, and they think, "Man, do I have to treatment plan all this? Is this all work that I have to do?"

But that is certainly not the case. The way that I like to think about AI is it's a highly trained associate that's scanning all my X-rays for me ahead of time, but it's ultimately up to me, the clinician, to confirm or deny those things.

So the biggest mistake they make is maybe taking the AI a little personally. Perhaps the AI finds something in the X-ray that they disagree with and then they write AI off right there.

"It picked up something that I wouldn't diagnose. I can't trust it."

But that's not the point, right? The point is that we now have a roadmap. We can double-check these areas. And the best part is that the AI has no feelings. So if you disagree with one of those detections, it can easily be removed.

So I think going into implementing AI, having that understanding that it's not going to be perfect 100% of the time, but is acting as that roadmap, you'll see the most success.

Turning radiographs into practice-level data — 12:50

Jessica Atkinson: And Katie, with that roadmap, we're only as good as the data that we have.

And I think, tell me, I do not know. I do not know if there is a way that, or if AI does this, but tracking those lesions that maybe I disagree with or tracking that situation that maybe I would not have approached in the same way.

But as it gathers that information, then we could look back and be like, "Oh, actually, there's a trend here and I do need to change how I'm approaching this situation. Or maybe I need to add a treatment option in my office."

And you did mention Curodont before, or you could do an SDF, or maybe there's something interim that we haven't tapped into as a practice that can bridge some of these gaps that I wasn't aware were there.

Katie Bale: Yes, I'm actually really glad you asked me this, Jessica, because I totally geek out on the thought, the notion that we have now unlocked a completely new data set in dentistry. And that is our patients' radiographs.

We have never been able to measure anything from patients' radiographs and tell AI.

And so that being said, with those conditions, those pathologies being picked up in X-rays, you can go into these platforms and say, "Hey, who in my patient population that I saw in the past six months had incipient lesions? And if it's high, do I need to introduce a new preventative program?"

If I'm seeing a lot of bone loss, do I have enough hygiene coverage in the practice? And if the answer is no, I have data to present to my doctor or the organization that, "Hey, our patient population is showing X amount of bone loss and calculus on their X-rays. We need more support in this way and that way."

So absolutely, we are seeing trends. We're seeing those detections. You do have the ability to add or edit detections with AI in the radiographs. So you do have the ability to align with your diagnosis and agree or disagree.

Getting everyone in the operatory on the same page — 15:09

Dave Torres: Yeah, I think it's an incredible tool because even when we're talking to the patients or doctors, guys, like there's this triangle, right? It's me, the patient, the doctor in one room in an exam. And the most awkward situation is when you all don't agree. You know what I mean?

The idea is that you can agree. But if we're all looking at the same thing—

And I know that there's different AIs that show green, yellow, red, right? Everybody understands red. Red is no good. But for a patient, there's always a misconception.

And I can say it's because my brother's a dentist, but there's always a misconception that a patient will come into the practice and they're like, "Well, every time I go to the dentist, I don't know why patients sound like this with that voice, but every time I go to the office, like, I always have like 20 cavities or there's always a cavity, right?"

And I've never met a doctor—and listeners, please write me an email—but I've never met a doctor or a dentist who just loves doing fillings. They're almost like 1 o'clock crown, right?

And so we have our patient base saying, "These doctors are making their money out of fillings." We have the dentists who don't like doing fillings. And then you have us trying to prevent the fillings and prevent, almost reverse caries, too, as well.

But when you have a tool that kind of aligns, it forces us to align together and come up with a conclusion to that story.

Yes, you can quickly look, tell the patient, if the patient asks you, "Do I have cavities and how many?" You can just show them the X-rays and you'd be like, "Well, you tell me," because you can now see through AI, through the X-rays, how many caries do you have?

However, there are incipient caries, and then they are like, "Oh my gosh. This is a root canal type of caries," right? There's different stages.

And so being able to kind of align together is why I love using AI in my everyday practice.

Is there a time where you notice that maybe providers are feeling a little nervous or anxious that that's just too much information for the patient to handle or at disposal?

Do you think that providers feel, particularly the ones that have been doing it for a really long time, like, "My gosh, I'm overwhelmed. Everything is—I write an email, Copilot is there, or ChatGPT, or this and that."

Do you think there's just too much information for the patient to have? And how can we reassure providers that it's okay?

More information doesn't mean less human connection — 17:28

Katie Bale: Yeah. First, Dave, you're talking to a hygienist. No amount of information is going to be too much for my patients. So I will never stop giving them information.

But I went to a CE where they told me that no patient should leave without something in their hand, whether that's their treatment plan, their home care written down, or their next visit, but they should have something in their hand to review at home.

So while I haven't heard, "Oh, it's too much information," from the patient's lens, because quite frankly, I think we're just catching up in providing enough information for our patients, doctors can feel overwhelmed, especially when you open up a radiograph and you're seeing bone loss. You're seeing caries pop up. You're seeing periapical radiolucencies. You're seeing calculus. It's a lot on the image.

And they do feel that pressure. "Oh, do I have to treatment plan all of this?"

But absolutely not. You can remove them, show the patient. But the patient, again, I think we're just finally bridging that gap of patient education and patient understanding that's long overdue.

So perhaps ask me in five years when we have way more AI and I'm giving them even more information.

Using technology to build trust — 18:45

Dave Torres: See, I like to think that it creates trust, right?

Okay, how many—I mean, this happens a lot to me where, you know, you're educating your patient about periodontal disease, right? You can have a brochure or you can show them the education tools, but—

What I find it more impactful is when I literally put Google in front of them and I'm like, "Periodontal disease," and we do this together.

And I almost call it out and I say, "We're doing this together in the same room," because I know my patients are gonna go home and they're gonna Google this and go and rabbit hole through the worst-case scenarios.

That's fine, but I want you to always come back and understand that I will be the solution to these problems, that I will be the reason why we can prevent more of these aggressive Google images and the scary ones, right?

And so the reason why I bring this up is just because I do believe that there's a certain amount of trust that we always have with patients and it's just become so much easier to do that with technology and specifically with AI showing us those pictures as well.

Katie Bale: Yeah, oh my gosh, I agree more than you know.

I think another thing in dentistry and really as a hygienist, we get caught up in this, "I'm not a salesperson. I should not have to pitch anything to my patient because I am an oral health provider. I am not a salesperson."

But I think that comes from a lack of understanding that we almost have to convince them. And that's where we start to feel like salespeople in dentistry.

And so, yes, you're absolutely right. It's bridging that gap of—

You can see it.

I'm not putting the AI up here.

Also, the AI gets no monetary gain from pointing out your calculus, pointing out these cavities.

They're not getting bonused on the fillings or crowns.

And so it really does add that unbiased second opinion.

And no longer you having to pitch, you're simply educating.

Jessica Atkinson: And that's our bread and butter as prevention professionals is that education.

Katie, tell us a little bit about using AI as a helpful education piece instead of when have you seen it become used like a crutch?

I want you to give us an example of how to maintain that human connection while using this as an adjunct.

AI should support clinical judgment, not replace it — 21:09

Katie Bale: When I think about radiologic AI, so we're picturing pathologies being highlighted in the X-ray.

And the way you can abuse AI is, let's say Pearl or any other software displays these and you just treatment plan them.

You see bone level alerts in that red or that orange and, "Oh, they need SRP."

And you're almost limiting your own clinical judgment and relying on the AI.

Whereas the AI should be surfacing these things to you and you are still going in and checking, using your education, your background to confirm those things.

So a great example would be a patient on a stable but reduced periodontium.

If you picture their X-rays, their bone level alerts are going to be red, orange, off the charts.

So if I were to be abusing the AI, I would see those colors come up and I would talk about periodontal disease and SRP.

If I am using AI as my roadmap, my second opinion, my assistant, I'm gonna go through, I note those bone levels, but I'm gonna look for active bleeding.

I'm gonna compare the AI to their perio chart.

I'm going to turn the AI on and off and look in their mouth.

And so I'm adding that context to what the AI is finding and making a more holistic diagnosis rather than just treatment planning everything that displays on the screen simply because the AI picked it up.

Jessica Atkinson: Because the AI is not looking in the mouth.

It's not seeing the color, size, contour, shape, consistency.

It's not—

Katie Bale: Yeah. Caries risk.

You know, there's a lot of missing context in X-rays.

Wow, who would have thought?

And that's another thing, too, that I hear a lot is those bone level measurements.

I have my hygienist and they go, "Katie, these probing depths are completely inaccurate."

And I go, "This is hard tissue in the X-ray. This is our bone loss. You need to use it in conjunction with your probing depths and your perio chart."

You've got to use both.

But unfortunately, AI is not to the point that it can measure soft tissue for us just yet.

What AI still can't see — 23:26

Jessica Atkinson: However, I have a dream of, like, taking a scan and having—

Katie Bale: Yes.

Jessica Atkinson: —and having the scan.

Oh, I have dreams.

I can't wait.

I can't wait for—

Dave Torres: Well, those seem like in the eye doctor, don't they do the pressure of your eye and they, by doing a little—yeah, like a little blast of air.

How cool would it be if you can do, like—

Look at us inventors, right?

But how cool would it be if we do a 3D scan of the mouth with those bursts of air and letting us know exactly—they'll probably know that. Would be so fantastic.

Oh my gosh, can we make this happen?

Katie Bale: You know, whenever I go to my engineers, I'm like, "Can't we just make this?"

And they're like, "This takes months of coding and development."

Jessica Atkinson: I'm like, "We got time."

Katie Bale: We got time.

We got the time.

But that's a good point.

I think you're right.

And—

If the listeners are hearing you, Dave, and they go, "Okay, at that point, maybe I'll be out of the job."

But again, you have to think if we had a scanner that could scan the entire mouth and do probing depths and tell you everything under the sun, the patient still needs that human element.

We still need that person to look at the probing depths and say, "Does this look accurate? Does this look like it's what I'm seeing?"

So there will always be that human element, even when we invent our robot that's going to do probing depths for us.

Where AI could help with periodontal consistency — 24:47

Jessica Atkinson: I think that human element that we want is a great—the AI is going to never be able to replace—

However, I think AI is hopefully going to replace a human element that causes me a lot of strife.

And that is the inconsistency of periodontal classification and subsequent diagnosis.

The hill I will die on is if you do an assessment, your assessment must meet—must meet your classification.

And that classification must match the diagnosis.

And I think when I talk to dental hygienists across the board, one of the most fascinating things about being in the profession that we are is often that disagreement between us and maybe our practice owner.

And I would like AI to dispel a lot of that tension.

And here it is.

Here are the probe depths.

Here's what the radiographs say.

We've put in all of this assessment information and you cannot argue with me that this patient needs something other than a bloody prophy.

Katie Bale: Not only that, the insurance companies can't argue with you anymore on why the patient needs SRP.

We hear these denials, these claims all the time when it comes to those X-rays.

Documentation, insurance and making the case for care — 26:14

Jessica Atkinson: I want a law.

I want a law, Katie, passed that insurance companies can't change what AI is finding and making 2 millimeters, 5 millimeters, or I don't want AI.

I don't want the insurance company AI to look different than what the rubric says.

I want the AAP classifications to be the ones that say, "This is the AI you're going to use, insurance companies."

Katie Bale: That's the problem, though, is they've had AI. Man, I can't even tell you how long insurance companies have been using AI to scan our claims.

Longer than it was ever introduced to the doctor's hand.

And that's really why I'm so passionate about Pearl and really AI in dentistry is because we're now putting the tool in the doctor's hands, in the hygienist's hands, in the office manager's hands, so that we are seeing eye to eye and we can pass that law, Jess, of not letting them change it, but we're, you know, giving them a taste of their own medicine and saying, "Hey, according to the AAP guidelines, that's where our bone level measurements line up.

Here's why they need SRP."

Dave Torres: I mean, I also said this, I want to say my last SRP because with my patient, I was taking intraoral photos.

I took a scan.

I took an X-ray, which, by the way, providers, AI is only as good as the X-rays you guys take.

So, you know, make sure to take amazing X-rays.

So I took X-rays. I did the program. I did the whole nine yards. I did everything. I did everything.

And my patient was like, "Wow, all this information."

And I was like, "I just want to make sure that whenever we submit your insurance claim that we have enough evidence that supports why I'm doing this.

I am responsible for treating your disease, but I have all this evidence that is going to be responsible for hopefully paying your claim."

And what that does is that it sets the tone within our practice and what we know and what we're willing to do because obviously at the end of the day, when we help with insurances—which I don't, thank goodness I have front desk people do that, and I see them struggle—but every time that they do, it's us helping out the patient as much as possible.

But if you've ever had car insurance in Florida, you will see that there's always gonna be some sort of insurance claim that gets rejected or suppressed or anything.

But when you have enough documentation that it sends the signal to the patient that not only are we taking care of you on the health level, but also where your claim—and if the insurance ever fights back and denies your claim, that is not on us.

We've exhausted our resources.

We have done everything we can to help you fight the good fight, right?

And so until we have a law passed, like, what in justice universe, right, that states that we will all 100% get reimbursement rate.

What we can do is continue to do everything that we do as far as documenting, explaining, educating the patient, getting in line with our doctors, and having the best instruments that we can have at our disposal so that we can take care of the patient.

Why better tools can push hygienists forward — 29:18

Dave Torres: Because I've witnessed this over and over again.

I feel like a good hygienist, not because—

I believe I'm a good hygienist because my patients refer their family members to me.

And that makes me want to upgrade my skills.

It makes me level up such that I can use tools like AI to continue to provide great quality care.

And I'm excited for the future for that reason.

Because if I believe that I'm a good hygienist in 2026, I can only imagine what's going to happen in 2027 and so on and so forth.

Because when I graduated, we didn't have any of these things, right?

Plus, we wouldn't have any AI.

Katie Bale: At my first dental assisting job, I had to wait and hang up those X-rays to dry.

They've come a long way.

Jessica Atkinson: A long way.

Looking ahead at AI in dentistry — 30:06

Jessica Atkinson: And Katie, at the forefront of AI, you were at the place where the, you know, where the—you’re there, you're in the room where it's happening.

What are you excited about for this next 10 years in the dental space with AI?

Katie Bale: Yeah, I can't give away too much, but AI is rapidly evolving.

And so today we discussed a lot about radiologic AI and X-rays with our patients.

But as of today, it has expanded to all across the dental practice.

So Dave, you know, you mentioned earlier, "I don't handle the insurance. I usually leave that."

I was the exact same way.

If I was talking SRP, I was like, "Okay, handle it with Susie at the front, come let me know when I can start cleaning," right?

But now with AI, they're starting to make insurance information like that more digestible.

So I can look up chairside what their coverage is on a code just by typing it in, so that I don't have to go get Susie from the front desk.

And it makes the team operate a little bit smoother, a little bit more as one, not having to hand off as much stuff and taking a little bit more ownership in what we can do with our patients from clinical care all the way to their insurance.

But also AI is an incredible initiative for a hygienist.

I don't know about you two.

I love clinical hygiene. It will always be near and dear to my heart, but as you can see, I'm not in clinical work as much as I used to be.

And I think a lot of us in dentistry have a desire to do something a little bit beyond clinical hygiene.

Maybe that's why we're here at this podcast, right?

AI is one of those initiatives a hygienist, an assistant can take in the practice and turn into something really cool.

It can become their baby, their project.

Because remember, you're scanning those X-rays for trends and what's going on in your patient population.

So this tool, and now that it's dipping its toes into revenue cycle management all the way to cone beams and surgery coming up and beyond, it's just opening the door for more exciting things that we can do as hygienists in the practice.

AI as a tool, not a Terminator — 32:23

Jessica Atkinson: Well, Katie, thank you for coming and talking to us about how we can open these doors with AI and look at it in a way that helps us see it as a tool and not a Terminator.

And we are so grateful for your expertise and being on the forefront of the future.

Katie Bale: Thank you guys so much.

It was a pleasure.

Dave Torres: Katie, I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jessica Atkinson: That's a wrap on today's episode of A Tale of Two Hygienists podcast.

If this conversation made you feel seen, inspired, or even just a little fired up, share it with a fellow hygienist or fellow dental professional.

Share it with your neighbors, your friends.

Share it with everyone.

That is how this community grows.

Dave Torres: Make sure you subscribe, leave us a review, and connect with us on social media so that we can keep on going with this conversation.

Remember, your career, your voice, and your story matter here.

We're David and Jessica, and until next time.

Jessica Atkinson: Keep learning, keep laughing, and keep showing up for yourself and for each other.