AI that checks the X-ray before anyone reads it
Overjet says the FDA has cleared its IRIS software to flag X-ray quality problems right after capture, aiming to catch a bad image before you leave the chair.
Most talk about dental AI is about reading X-rays. The newest clearance is about something more basic: whether the X-ray is good enough to read at all.
The announcement
In a press release dated August 4, 2026, the dental AI company Overjet announced a second FDA clearance for IRIS, which it calls AI-native imaging software. The new clearance covers what the company calls real-time image quality checking. IRIS reviews an X-ray immediately after it is taken and flags problems. The company says it checks for eight issues, including cone cuts (part of the image missing because the beam was misaligned), overlapping contacts between teeth, and missed coverage of the area that needed imaging.
Overjet says IRIS is the first dental imaging system cleared by the FDA to assess image quality with AI. The company reports that its first IRIS clearance, about a year earlier, covered AI upscaling to sharpen X-ray images across more than 40 sensor models.
On performance, the company reports a study of 1,888 images compared against a consensus of three dentists, tested across sensors from 10 manufacturers, with 98.6 percent specificity and 92.6 percent sensitivity for identifying quality issues. These are the company's figures from its own announcement, not an independent study. Treat the release's headline claim about case acceptance the same way; the release text does not show data behind it.
Why image quality matters to patients
A blurry or badly angled X-ray can hide the very thing it was meant to show. Overlapping teeth can make it hard to see decay between them. A cut-off image can miss a root tip. When that happens, the usual fix is a retake, sometimes at a later visit.
Catching the problem while you are still in the chair means a retake can happen on the spot, rather than a gap in the record or a second trip. Fewer unusable images also means fewer wasted exposures. Dental X-rays use low doses, but the long-standing principle is still to take only the images that are needed, and to take them well.
What it does not do
- It does not diagnose. A quality check judges the picture, not your teeth.
- It does not replace training. The person taking the X-ray still positions the sensor and decides whether to retake.
- It is new. Independent, published evaluation of AI quality checks in everyday offices is still limited.
What to ask
If you are told an X-ray needs to be retaken, it is fair to ask why. A clear answer, such as part of the tooth being cut off, is a good sign that the office cares about getting usable images the first time. And if an office uses AI to read your X-rays, a good-quality image is what makes that reading worth anything.
Sources
Educational content, not individual medical advice. Every mouth is different, so talk to a licensed dentist about your own teeth. The Real Miami Dentists is powered by 5 Star Smiles.
