Overjet is the world leader in dental AI. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Overjet CEO Wardah Inam to learn more about the company.
Wardah Inam’s Background
Screenshot
What is Wardah Inam’s background? Inam said:
“I came to the US for my Masters and PhD at MIT. It was an amazing experience to do cutting-edge research — and see how computer science is solving some of society’s most pressing problems. Following MIT, I led product development at QBio, a biomedical imaging startup, before co-founding Overjet. I moved to the Bay Area after 11 years in Boston, as Overjet continued to grow.”
Formation Of Overjet
How did the idea for the company come together? Inam shared:
“I changed my dentist and got a treatment plan that was very different from what I had received in the past. It seemed like more of an art than an exact science. And I knew that technology, in particular AI, could help solve this challenge.”
“That is why Overjet was born. Our goal was to become the first objective standard for dentistry, by using AI to detect and quantify oral pathologies with more precision than ever before. Fast forward to today, everything we build at Overjet is focused on improving patients’ dental care and making it a more accessible and equitable medical field.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Inam explained:
“There are two sides of our business — which are connected because they both improve patient outcomes.”
“For dental providers, our Clinical Intelligence Platform improves the patient experience at every step. Our AI detects and quantifies oral diseases like cavities in X-rays, and also helps dentists explain their findings to patients using colorful overlays. Behind the scenes, providers use our AI-powered dashboards to keep track of each patient’s oral health information. Across the board, Overjet ensures that patients get the care they need, when they need it.”
“For dental insurers, our Insurance Intelligence Platform dramatically speeds up the process of reviewing benefits claims. It uses AI to help patients get the right treatment, providers get reimbursed faster, and insurers avoid administrative work. At a high level, our platform either automatically approves claims or, for more complex cases, routes them to a human expert for further review, aided by our AI annotations. This means that patients aren’t left in limbo waiting to find out if they’re covered, while insurers can operate as efficiently as possible. ”
“Looking to the future, Overjet will connect dental providers and insurers like never before. Soon, patients will know immediately whether their insurance will cover treatment — while they’re still sitting in the chair. This is a game-changer. On average, patients decline about half of the treatments that their dentists recommend, due in no small part to the uncertainty around whether insurance will pay for it. I’m excited to create a world where patients deeply understand their oral health, and have the confidence to move forward with the right care.”
Evolution Of Overjet’s Technology
How has Overjet’s technology evolved since launching? What were some of the biggest milestones along the way? Inam noted:
“Dental technology is a highly regulated space — for good reason. It takes a substantial amount of time, resources, and data to build new use cases for our technology, such as detecting cavities in children’s teeth or measuring bone levels with millimeter-level accuracy. Doing the research and building the technology to meet those regulatory standards has been at the center of all our work.”
“Over the course of the last six years, we’ve earned seven groundbreaking FDA clearances for our technology — including two recent clearances that enabled us to launch Overjet For Kids. Now, dentists can use our AI technology to detect and visualize cavities in patients as young as four years old — building a lifetime of trust with kids and their parents.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Inam about customer success stories, she highlighted:
“The absolute best part of my job is hearing feedback from customers and patients. Literally every day, we get texts, emails, and social media messages from folks sharing how excited they are about this technology. We have a massive wall of these quotes on our website, which is probably about 1% of all the amazing feedback we’ve heard.”
“Recently, an office manager at one of the largest dental groups in the US shared an amazing anecdote with us, unprompted. One of their patients needed a replacement crown, a procedure that the office manager mentioned is “notoriously difficult” to get insurance to cover. The insurance claim had already been denied three times, but once they submitted it with Overjet’s annotations, the claim was approved! Overjet is able to provide exact measurements and full context to the insurer, removing uncertainty from the process.”
“This kind of success story is a daily reminder of why our work at Overjet matters.”
Funding
After asking Inam about the company’s funding, she revealed:
“We recently raised $53 million in our Series C round, a major milestone in our space. In total, we’ve raised about $133 million, and our valuation is now $550 million.”
“For me, this story is less about Overjet — and more about the rapid adoption of AI in dentistry. In 2018, Overjet was just an idea. In 2024, it’s a platform used by thousands of dentists and most of the top US dental insurers, which collectively cover more than 110 million members. It’s been incredible to see so many dental professionals commit to giving patients the absolute cutting edge of care.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What specifically makes Overjet’s technology unique? Inam affirmed:
“Overjet is the only technology that’s approved by the FDA for “segmentation,” which is our ability to precisely outline oral pathologies. Some other solutions make approximations using “bounding boxes,” but we’ve heard from both dentists and patients that segmentation is critical for making informed decisions.”
“We’ve seen the power of this approach across our rigorous clinical studies for the FDA. For example, 100% of dentists were more accurate when detecting cavities on X-rays with Overjet’s annotations, compared to their performance without them.”
Long-Term Vision
What is Overjet’s long-term vision? Inam concluded:
“Dentists are some of the most highly trained professionals on the planet, but today, they’re held back by inefficient processes and old technology. The ultimate goal for Overjet is to be a modern dental operating system that streamlines the entire experience for patients — everything from scheduling an appointment, to receiving the right care, to getting that care approved by insurance.”
“Overjet is going to connect the entire dental care ecosystem for the first time so that dental professionals can focus on what they do best: caring for patients.”
