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VJ, (founder of 21D): This AI Dentistry System Replaces Teeth in 2 Hours | DSH #1771
00:18:28
We’re at the AI4 Conference with VJ, founder of 21D (21st Century Dentistry) — and the numbers he shares are hard to ignore. VJ explains how full-mouth restoration used to take months, multiple surgical visits, and complicated steps — but with modern workflows and AI-driven planning, it can now be done in about 2 hours with precision down to 10 microns. He breaks down how their system uses CT scans, intraoral scans, and 3D face scans to build a complete digital model, run biomechanics calculations, and show patients exactly what’s happening, what’s possible, and why — in a way that reduces fear and increases transparency. We also get into the bigger mission: making this care more accessible, expanding into the U.S., and using AI to shift healthcare toward early diagnostics and prevention, not surprise treatment. What You’ll Learn 🦷 How full-mouth restoration can be planned and delivered faster than traditional workflows 🧠 How AI reduces fear by making the process transparent...
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Transcript140 lines
- [00:00]
Vijay
So in the uk, there's two and a half million people with no teeth and there's another five million that are about to lose them in the next five years. In the United States, according to the American Dental association, there are 35 million with no teeth and there's another 40 million that's going to join them within the next five or 10 years.
- [00:16]
Interviewer
When you say no teeth, is that all their teeth?
- [00:18]
Vijay
All of them.
- [00:19]
Interviewer
Holy crap. 35 million people.
- [00:21]
Vijay
10Th of the American population, which is insane.
- [00:26]
Interviewer
Foreign. Guys, we got Vijay Here, founder of 21D, speaker here at the AI4 conference. Man. How's the conference been for you?
- [00:39]
Vijay
Fascinating. Real eye opener. So this is my first AI conference.
- [00:42]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [00:43]
Vijay
So I'm actually a clinician, but I build AI systems as well. So this is the first time I'm not at a clinical forum, but I'm in an AI forum. And it's mind blowingly good.
- [00:53]
Interviewer
Yeah. I've met some of the most interesting people of all time here. Yeah. Yeah.
- [00:57]
Vijay
I love the level of imagination. That's the bit that I thrive on. It. It's. It's what I'm all about. The blue sky. Thinking and creating what the world needs as opposed to what it's got now.
- [01:08]
Interviewer
Absolutely.
- [01:09]
Vijay
And this is a room full of people like that, which I absolutely love. Yes.
- [01:12]
Interviewer
So for people that don't know what 21D is about, can you explain the company and its origins?
- [01:16]
Vijay
So, yeah, 21D just basically stands for 21st century dentistry. So for the last 25 years of my life, what I've been doing is doing the most extreme correction in dentistry, which is people who've either got no teeth or who are about to lose all their teeth, putting them all back. So 25 years ago, it used to take six months and multiple surgical visits and all kinds of rubbish like bone grafting and all that. Today, it's two hours.
- [01:43]
Interviewer
Wow. For a full set of teeth.
- [01:45]
Vijay
Everything, all your old teeth out, all the rubbish removed, all the jawbone cleaned out, all the implants in, new teeth on top. See you later. Two hours. Have a nice life.
- [01:55]
Interviewer
And it's good quality material.
- [01:57]
Vijay
It's the highest quality material.
- [01:59]
Interviewer
Wow. Are those veneers or is that different?
- [02:02]
Vijay
No, it's prosthetics. So it's imagine instead of just the teeth. So what these people have lost is not just teeth. They've lost gum, they've lost bone.
- [02:10]
Interviewer
Right.
- [02:10]
Vijay
So the prosthetic reproduces all the parts and the shading and the coloring and the painting. Wow. If you see them, you would Never know in a month of Sundays that none of it's real.
- [02:21]
Interviewer
What? We're going to have to throw up some photos on this.
- [02:23]
Vijay
You need to see.
- [02:24]
Interviewer
So you can't distinguish that it's faked teeth.
- [02:26]
Vijay
Not a chance.
- [02:27]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [02:28]
Vijay
Yeah. Wait till you see my photos. It'll blow your mind.
- [02:30]
Interviewer
And where does AI play into this?
- [02:32]
Vijay
So AI is the most important part for me, because when a patient comes in, they're full of fear. They don't know what's going on. They don't know what's possible with what they have. So we just do diagnostics when they come in. So we take a CT scan, we take what's called an intraoral scan. So if you've been to the dentist, you know those molds that they put in your mouth? None of that.
- [02:52]
Interviewer
Super uncomfortable, by the way.
- [02:53]
Sponsor/Host
Ah.
- [02:53]
Vijay
It's terrible.
- [02:54]
Interviewer
Makes me nauseous.
- [02:55]
Vijay
Intraoral scanners have been around for 20 years. I'm just surprised that every clinic in the world hasn't got one, which is just a joke.
- [03:02]
Interviewer
It must be an insurance thing, I'd imagine, or something.
- [03:04]
Vijay
Well, even if it is, one of the things we want to do when we come here to the US is, is we just want to give clinics an intraoral scanner. We don't want them to pay for it. Just say, use it. Here you go. Because they're really affordable now. There's just no excuse to not use it. And then we do a face scan. 3D face scan.
- [03:19]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [03:20]
Vijay
So the AI takes those images and assembles them so the accuracy is down to 10 microns now.
- [03:28]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [03:28]
Vijay
Right. And then from that, the AI will run a series of calculations of biomechanics to tell you how the teeth are going to function, where they need to sit inside your skull. So it's very different to mine or his or whoever else is inside your skull. So then it shows you on a screen immediately, in about five seconds, where you're at, what you need, and most important of all, why? So all of the calculations are run by the AI that then gets transferred to your phone. You can then go home and sit there with a 3D image of you, and you can ask the AI any question you like, and it will just give you all the answers.
- [04:08]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [04:08]
Vijay
And then the event is when you decide that that's what you want. So you press, yes, I want this. That does two things. First is it's your informed consent. And the second is it's the moment you pay for stuff.
- [04:23]
Interviewer
Nice.
- [04:24]
Vijay
Once you hit that button, the 3D printers and the milling machines just go into action and start making all the stuff you need for that. So your surgical guides are 3D printed, your prosthetics are milled, and then it all comes to your servicing clinician in a box.
- [04:39]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [04:40]
Vijay
That guy just opens the box, stares at the screen. So the AI is telling him what to do and he just follows it. So he will now behave like a guy who puts Ikea furniture together following a set of instructions on the screen. And that's how we can do it in two hours.
- [04:55]
Interviewer
That's crazy.
- [04:56]
Vijay
It's what's possible.
- [04:58]
Interviewer
And it's obviously working because in three and a half years you went from 0 to 40 million in revenue.
- [05:02]
Sponsor/Host
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- [06:08]
Interviewer
Did you expect it to take off that quick?
- [06:10]
Vijay
For me it's too slow, really. My management team know about that on a rapid basis for me. Okay. If I. If I contextualize the scale of the market. So in the uk, there's two and a half million people with no teeth.
- [06:22]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [06:23]
Vijay
And there's another five million that are about to lose them in the next five years. In the United States, according to the American Dental association, there are 35 million with no teeth. And there's another 40 million that's going to join them within the next five or 10 years.
- [06:39]
Interviewer
When you say no teeth, is that all their teeth?
- [06:41]
Vijay
All of them.
- [06:42]
Interviewer
Hold on.
- [06:43]
Vijay
31 million tenths of the American population, which is insane.
- [06:48]
Interviewer
I can't even comprehend that it must be. I'd Imagine the elderly. That makes a majority.
- [06:53]
Vijay
We know that this is a degenerative condition, just like people who need a hip replacement. People who need a hip replacement, it isn't because they don't know how to take care of their hips. It's just 50, 60 years of wear and tear. But pretty much the same thing with the mouth. It isn't. They don't know which end of a toothbrush goes in the mouth. It's just one of those things that happens to people. So we know that for a hip, for a degenerative hip, it's a hip replacement for a degenerative mouth, it's what I do. It's a medical procedure. It's not a cosmetic procedure. It's a biofunctional procedure. You'll look great at the end of it. But it's not the reason we do it. We do it to stop disease and greatly improve your health and your digestive function that way.
- [07:34]
Sponsor/Host
We do it because the current solutions.
- [07:35]
Interviewer
Seem a little archaic. Right.
- [07:37]
Vijay
Archaic is a very nice word. Right. Here's my problem. My problem is the global need is about one and a half billion human beings, and that need is accelerating.
- [07:51]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [07:51]
Vijay
And then I come to countries and I'm in Europe, or I come to the United States, and I hear that for a person who desperately needs this, needs to come up with 50 to $60,000. Yeah. We're currently charging $22,000 for the most efficient system in the world in the UK. I'm just wondering why they're being charged 50 to 60 thousand dollars in the United States for exactly the same biology.
- [08:22]
Interviewer
There's no other solution. They have a monopoly, I'd imagine. Right.
- [08:25]
Vijay
Well, until another monopoly turns up.
- [08:28]
Interviewer
Right.
- [08:28]
Vijay
Like me.
- [08:29]
Interviewer
Yeah. So if you come here, you could cut.
- [08:31]
Vijay
Oh, we're definitely.
- [08:31]
Interviewer
Cut that in half.
- [08:32]
Vijay
We're definitely coming.
- [08:34]
Interviewer
Which cities do you plan on hitting first?
- [08:35]
Vijay
Well, we're going to start in the south first, so we're going to start in Atlanta. We're going to cover seven states. The proof of concept. So everybody's the same. So, you know, you said to me, I built that other company in three and a half years to a 40 million revenue. People don't believe me when I say it. They just think I'm crazy. So I'll just come here next year and build it. They won't think I'm crazy in 2027.
- [08:57]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [08:58]
Vijay
Then they'll go, okay, we just need to listen to this guy and work with him. I want to help those 80 million people. I want to give Them the opportunity to have excellent healthcare at an affordable price. I'm a capitalist. My company is a very successful company. It makes very decent profit margins and those profits are used to help more people. That's what healthcare is about.
- [09:25]
Interviewer
That's what it should be about.
- [09:27]
Vijay
Well, they're lucky because Vijay has no interest in being rich. Giving me money is like giving a monkey a machine gun. There's nothing good gonna come out of it.
- [09:36]
Interviewer
You'll care for it.
- [09:37]
Vijay
I can't be bothered. What am I gonna do with the yachts? Nothing, you understand. But I really get a kick out of helping people on a daily basis. I'm a billionaire in gratitude. So when I feel the hug of my patients because I've helped them, I know I've made a difference.
- [09:51]
Interviewer
Respect.
- [09:52]
Vijay
And I like that. So that's why I do it.
- [09:54]
Interviewer
I'd love to see more of that in the healthcare in America. Unfortunately, it's not like that anymore.
- [09:58]
Vijay
Until we turn up.
- [09:59]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [10:00]
Vijay
So they'll listen when I'm killing their businesses. And then you got two choices. Die or join me.
- [10:07]
Interviewer
A lot of people in America, I don't know about the uk, but they hate dentists. Okay.
- [10:11]
Vijay
You know the main reason they hate dentists? Lack of transparency. The minute you make it transparent and then you know for a fact that no one's lying to you.
- [10:22]
Interviewer
No.
- [10:24]
Vijay
Okay. Nobody likes the idea of having any kind of interventive surgery. But the reason that they hate dentists. I know a lot of dentists. I trained dentists. These aren't bad people. They're just terrible communicators. Right. They're just terrible.
- [10:39]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [10:40]
Vijay
Right. But in the world I imagine in the world of the future, the communication is done by the AI on your phone 24 hours a day. So if you understand what is needed, if things are quantified before you engage in it, there are no nasty surprises or bad experiences. So if the AI says your tooth will be removed in 60 seconds using these techniques, you can mentally Prepare for those 60 seconds using that technique.
- [11:10]
Interviewer
Right.
- [11:10]
Vijay
But when you're told, oh yeah, I can take the tooth out easily and then you're still there an hour and a half later. Yeah. That's why you grow to hate dentists.
- [11:18]
Interviewer
Good point. Now I actually don't mind them. I go to a holistic dentist and they use AI to scan my teeth. So now I know for a fact where the cavity is. There's been a lot of dentists getting exposed for saying there's cavities in patient's mouth and there's not. And then that's a whole scandal.
- [11:32]
Vijay
But as a practicing clinician for 32 years, when I hear clinicians say to me, don't you have a problem getting patients? Now I have the opposite problem. I have a four and a half month waiting list of people who are dying to get in to see us.
- [11:51]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [11:51]
Vijay
Just because we just do our job really well. So I don't buy this, that you need to go looking for work or creating work. We are the sickest population of human beings in the history of mankind. We are fantastically good at screwing ourselves up. Okay? We don't actually need to go and find work that doesn't need doing. Because the rate at which human beings are screwing up their mouths, their eyes, their ears, everything has never been higher in human history. So I don't understand why any clinician would want to create work that doesn't need doing because there's more than enough that does facts.
- [12:30]
Interviewer
Yeah, yeah. I'd imagine you could point out anyone here and they have some sort of issue with their, with their teeth.
- [12:35]
Vijay
Well, it's funny, I've been walking the floor, I've seen at least eight people that need what I do.
- [12:39]
Interviewer
Damn, there was toothless people here.
- [12:41]
Vijay
Okay, you have to understand, right now, one in eight of the human race right now on this planet need what I do. One in eight. But the problem with these people, and this is the bit that really upsets me, the first time I did this, I was a 29 year old young man, fully fit, totally complete, I call it. I had what's called the arrogance of the able and young. So I had this woman sat in front of me who was in her mid-50s. She wouldn't even make eye contact with me. And I just arrogantly said, listen, if you don't tell me what the problem is, I can't help you. And she just looked up at me and she said, the problem is I'm too much of a coward to kill myself because I hate me. Because I have this going on. And I didn't sleep for days because I stopped being a clinician at that moment. And I put myself in her shoes. And I thought, what must it be like to have this level of self loathing.
- [13:43]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [13:44]
Vijay
Every single minute of every single day. I'd never known it before. And then I realized how important it was for her that I found a solution.
- [13:54]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [13:54]
Vijay
And the solutions didn't exist in the box that existed at the time. So I had to create a solution that was outside the box. And everyone said to me, well, if it goes wrong, you're going to get struck off. And I went, okay, but if it goes right, she's not going to want to kill herself. And I did that, and I've been doing it ever since. Respect that. That's my motivation. I care about these people. I'm a clinician. I love them.
- [14:21]
Interviewer
Did you end up finding that person again later down the road?
- [14:23]
Vijay
Oh, she texts me every birthday of mine.
- [14:27]
Interviewer
Nice.
- [14:27]
Vijay
Just to wish me a happy birthday because we're still connected.
- [14:31]
Interviewer
That's beautiful, man.
- [14:32]
Vijay
Yeah. Because I made a big difference to her life.
- [14:35]
Interviewer
Yeah. I didn't even think it from that point of view, but you're right. If you had no teeth, your whole mentality on life is going to be affected.
- [14:42]
Vijay
The. So I. I have a Facebook group for my patients.
- [14:46]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [14:47]
Vijay
We have about 7,000 people on that group. It's a community where people. The worst thing for me is they all think they're alone or they all think they've got the worst problem I've ever seen. Right. They're not even close. Right. And they share their own stories with each other. So recently, I think it was day before yesterday, a guy who had a correction from me, had the motivation to then go on and lose about 60 pounds of weight.
- [15:14]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [15:15]
Vijay
Change his entire dietary habits, his lifestyle, everything. And then he said, I've just gone for it. So I corrected him. About seven months ago. the time when I assessed him, his body mass index was about 37. It's now 22. He was a diabetic. He is not a diabetic now. He's. He used to have sleep apnea. That's gone away. His blood pressure's under control. And he said to me, that was the thing that triggered the whole change in me because I didn't love me before.
- [15:50]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [15:50]
Vijay
They gave me a reason for me to love myself again. And that is what I should be doing for these people is giving them hope. And that's what I want to drive.
- [16:01]
Interviewer
That's beautiful, man. Yeah. There's a lot of new studies on how important oral health is and how it connects with the whole body.
- [16:07]
Vijay
Do you want to hear some scary stats?
- [16:08]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [16:09]
Vijay
Okay. So the most recent papers that were published in 2024, huge studies showing a link of 50 to 70% between periodontal disease and heart disease, 60 to 80% connection between periodontal disease and dementia.
- [16:29]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [16:29]
Vijay
Now here's a scary number for your. For your viewers. There are 60 million diagnosed dementia sufferers on earth right now. The combined cost of care for those 60 million people is $1.2 trillion per year.
- [16:49]
Interviewer
Jeez. So tax dollars are going towards that.
- [16:53]
Vijay
Okay, so we're treating things when we should be preventing things.
- [16:57]
Interviewer
It'd be way cheaper even if it was free.
- [17:02]
Vijay
Would you want to be cured or prevented from needing a cure?
- [17:06]
Interviewer
Prevented.
- [17:08]
Vijay
So why are we all focused on treatment? Why aren't we doing more diagnostics earlier? Why aren't we doing more analytics earlier? Why aren't we monetizing prevention and demonetizing treatment? Because we should all be saying it's better to stay complete. Now, obviously, people are going to slip through the cracks. People are going to need intervention. But if it could have been prevented, why aren't we preventing it?
- [17:33]
Interviewer
Right. I love that way of thinking. Well, Vijay, it's been awesome. Where can people look up your website and potentially become a customer?
- [17:39]
Vijay
21D.Co.Uk we're in America. 21d.com is going to be launched when we open here in the us. We're coming because oral disease is just where I'm starting. The AI is applicable in orthopedics, so for hip replacement, analytics and production, knee replacements, ACL ligament treatment, all of those are coming. And what we want to become is the world's largest educational resource for all patients for free. Just get the right information so you can make the right decisions. So that's the other thing that we're driving. So go on the website.
- [18:12]
Interviewer
21D co uk go on the site, guys, if you know anyone that needs some teeth, see you next time.
- [18:22]
Sponsor/Host
I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm.
- [18:27]
Interviewer
Thank you.