How Endodontists Use AI Day to Day (A Day With Marea)
How endodontists use AI day to day: a walkthrough of one endo day with Marea, from booking referred patients to same-day letters to the GP.
Quick Answer
Endodontists use AI for the work around treatment, not the treatment itself: answering and booking referred patients, collecting intake forms before the visit, drafting the clinical note during the consult, and turning that note into the report for the referring dentist the same day. With Marea, which grew out of TDO Software and was built with more than 100 endodontists, each of those steps feeds the next one, and on TDO it all flows straight into the chart.
Key Takeaways
- Endodontists use AI for the work around treatment: booking, intake, clinical notes and letters back to referring dentists.
- Endo notes are specific. Multi-tooth diagnoses, pulpal and periapical findings and pulp testing need a scribe built for dentistry, not a medical template.
- The biggest time saver for endo is the letter. When the note is already written, the report to the referring dentist takes seconds instead of starting from scratch.
- Marea grew out of TDO Software with more than 100 endodontists, and it works natively with TDO.
- The endodontist reviews and signs every note and letter. AI drafts, you decide.
Ask an endodontist where their time goes, and it's rarely the root canal. It's everything around it: the phone call from a patient in pain, the forms, the note, and the report back to the dentist who sent the patient in. Multiply that by a full schedule and it adds up fast.
According to the American Association of Endodontists, endodontists perform 25 root canal treatments each week, while general dentists perform fewer than 2. Most of those cases need a clinical note, and many need a report to a referring dentist.
So what does AI actually do in an endo practice? Below is an example day, step by step, at an endo practice that runs on TDO. The steps follow how Marea works, and the quotes come from endodontists who use it.
25 root canal treatments per week by the average endodontist (AAE). 100+ endodontists Marea was built with, through TDO Software. Seconds to draft the letter to the referring dentist from the note.
Why Endo Is Different
A general AI scribe is built for a general visit. An endo day doesn't look like that:
- Your patients come from referrals. Every case has a referring dentist who wants to hear back, so the letter matters as much as the note.
- Your notes are detailed. Multi-tooth diagnoses, pulpal and periapical findings, pulp testing and restorability all need to land in the right place.
- Your patients are often in pain. When someone calls with a toothache, a fast answer matters.
That's why Marea was built differently. It grew out of TDO Software with more than 100 practicing endodontists, and every workflow was designed inside endodontic practices instead of being adapted from a medical template.
7:45 a.m.: A Referred Patient Calls
Before the office opens, a patient calls. Their dentist referred them for a root canal, and they want to get in this week. Your front desk isn't in yet.
Instead of voicemail, Marea Inbound answers. It books the consult straight into your schedule, whether you're on TDO or another supported PMS, and passes anything that needs a person to your team with the full context. If it's a real emergency, Marea recognizes it and sends it to your on-call protocol.
The patient hangs up with an appointment. Your team walks in to a booked slot, not a message to return.
Before the Visit: Intake Is Already Done
The moment that consult is booked, Marea sends the patient their intake forms: health history, consents and e-signatures. The patient can fill them out at home, before they ever walk in.
By the time they arrive, the answers are already in the chart. Nobody retypes a health history, and nobody chases a missing signature at the front desk.
Related read: Smart Forms vs Paper Intake: Consent & Compliance.
9:00 a.m.: The Consult
You run the consult the way you always do. You ask about the pain history, do your pulp testing, look at the radiographs, and talk through options with the patient.
Marea listens from the corner of the operatory. There are no buttons to press and nothing to dictate. While you work, it drafts the note in your format, whether that's SOAP, narrative or your own template, and captures the findings tooth by tooth: multi-tooth diagnoses, pulpal and periapical findings, and restorability.
When you're done, you review the note, fix anything you want, and sign it. The audio is transcribed live and never stored.
"It has completely eliminated the variability in note quality that can depend on which dental assistant is assisting." Dr. Audrey Hsin, Citra Endodontics (Marea customer)
Related read: AI SOAP Notes for Dentists (With 3 Examples).
9:40 a.m.: The Letter to the Referring Dentist
For a lot of endo practices, this is where the time goes. The note is done, but the referring dentist still needs a report, and writing it usually means starting from a blank page or copying pieces of the note into a template.
With Marea Documentation, the consult report is drafted from the note in seconds, with your letterhead and sign-off. You choose which notes to include, so older details stay out. You read it, make any changes, and send it.
Letters go out through an encrypted portal, and you can see when the referring office opens it and when they reply. The referring dentist hears back the same day as the visit, not a week later.
"It pulls the relevant notes from TDO to create a well-structured consultation note ready to be sent to the referring dentist." Dr. Dikesh Parmar, Capital Dental (Marea customer)
"Being able to choose which notes to include in reports ensures outdated detail can be excluded." Dr. Averil Tse, Endodontists on Collins (Marea customer)
Related read: Why Dental Referral Letters Take 20 Minutes.
Midday: Treatment and Post-Op Notes
The rest of the morning is treatment. Each appointment works the same way: you treat, Marea drafts the note, you review and sign.
When a case is finished, the post-op letter drafts itself from the note too, so the referring dentist knows what was done and what comes next for the patient. For multi-visit cases, you can pull the notes you need into one letter instead of rebuilding the story from memory.
"It pulls everything together. Pain history, diagnosis notes, multi-tooth findings." Dr. Peter Shelley, Elm Endodontics (Marea customer)
5:30 p.m.: Charts Closed
The last patient leaves. On a normal day, this is when charting starts: notes you didn't have time to finish, letters you meant to send, messages to return.
With Marea, the notes were written during the day, the letters went out after each visit, and the calls were answered as they came in. You check what's left, sign off, and go home.
"It has saved me approximately 25 minutes per day writing notes and sending reports." Dr. Michael Fuller, University Pointe Endodontics (Marea customer)
Related read: AI Clinical Notes: Stop Staying Late to Chart.
An Endo Day, With and Without AI
| Moment | Without AI | With Marea |
|---|---|---|
| Early morning call | Goes to voicemail until the front desk arrives | Answered and booked into your schedule |
| Intake | Clipboard in the waiting room, retyped later | Done at home, already in the chart |
| Consult note | Typed between patients or after hours | Drafted during the consult, reviewed and signed |
| Letter to the GP | Written from scratch, often days later | Drafted from the note in seconds, sent the same day |
| Post-op update | Rebuilt from memory at the end of the case | Drafted from the notes when the case is done |
| End of day | Charting at home | Charts closed before you leave |
Built From TDO
TDO is built for endodontics, and that's where Marea started. Marea grew out of TDO Software and was co-developed with TDO, so notes, letters, appointments and forms flow natively. There's no bridge, no copy and paste, and no double entry.
Not on TDO? Marea also works on top of other practice management systems and writes back to supported PMSs. Integration depth varies by system, so check the integrations page or ask in a demo.
And because patient data matters: Marea is HIPAA and PIPEDA compliant, signs a BAA with every practice before go-live, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and never stores audio. See how Marea handles patient data.
Want to hear it from another endodontist? Book a 15-minute demo. We'll walk through an endo day on your own workflow, and we can connect you with an endo practice already running Marea. Book a demo.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do endodontists use AI?
Mostly for documentation and communication. Endodontists use AI to answer and book patient calls, send intake forms before the visit, draft the clinical note during the consult or treatment, and turn that note into a report for the referring dentist. The endodontist still reviews and signs everything before it goes into the record or out the door.
Can an AI scribe handle endodontic notes?
A scribe built for dentistry can. Endo notes need multi-tooth diagnoses, pulpal and periapical findings, pulp testing and restorability assessments, which a general medical scribe isn't set up for. Marea was designed inside endodontic practices and writes the note in your format, tooth by tooth.
Can AI write the letter to the referring dentist?
Yes. With Marea, the consult report or post-op letter is drafted from the clinical note in seconds, with your letterhead and sign-off. You choose which notes to include, review the draft, and send it, usually the same day as the visit.
Does Marea work with TDO?
Yes. Marea grew out of TDO Software and was co-developed with TDO, so notes, letters, appointments and forms flow natively into TDO. There's no bridge, no copy and paste, and no double entry.
Does Marea work if my endo practice doesn't use TDO?
Yes. Marea works on top of other practice management systems too and writes back to supported PMSs. How deep the integration goes depends on the system, so check the integrations page or confirm yours in a demo.
What happens to the audio from my consults?
Marea transcribes the audio live and never stores it. The audio and raw transcript are discarded as soon as the note is written. Marea is HIPAA and PIPEDA compliant, signs a BAA with every practice before go-live, and encrypts data in transit and at rest.
Sources & Further Reading
External sources
More from Marea
Marea is the clinical documentation platform for dental practices. Marea Documentation writes the note, the letter, and the perio chart. Marea Inbound answers the call and completes intake — on the PMS you already use.