We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. Help us improve by accepting all cookies - you'll get a faster, more personalized experience. Or click "Essential Only" for a basic (but limited) experience. Learn more
DigitalTCO vs Bola AI
Both use voice AI for dental documentation, but they serve different purposes. Bola specialises in voice perio charting and restorative charting for US practices. DigitalTCO handles your entire documentation workflow — notes, letters, consent forms, and more. Here's how they compare.
The short version
Bola AI is the market leader in voice perio charting for US dental practices. If your main problem is hands-free perio charting for hygienists, Bola is purpose-built for that. But if your problem is the broader documentation burden — clinical notes, letters, consent forms, patient correspondence — Bola only covers part of it. DigitalTCO handles the full documentation workflow from a single platform. Different tools for different problems — Bola is a charting tool, DigitalTCO is a documentation platform.
What is Bola AI?
Bola AI is a Boston-based voice AI company founded by Rushi Ganmukhi, who has a background in machine learning research at MIT. Bola specialises in voice-driven dental charting — particularly Voice Perio (hands-free periodontal charting), Voice Restorative (restorative charting in under 2 minutes), and AI Scribe (clinical note transcription). Bola integrates directly with major US practice management systems including Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Curve, Patterson, and Open Dental. The platform is trusted by over 10,000 dentists and hygienists and has completed over 3 million charts. Bola uses a wake word system — say 'Hey, Bola' to start and 'Stop Bola' to finish.
"Superpower Your Staff With Voice AI Dental Charting"
What Bola AI does well
- Market leader in voice perio charting — purpose-built for hygienists to chart solo without an assistant
- Deep PMS integrations — writes directly into Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Curve, Patterson, and Open Dental
- Voice Restorative — complete restorative charting in under 2 minutes
- 99.9% accuracy rate claimed for voice recognition
- Trusted by 10,000+ dental professionals with 3M+ charts completed
- Wake word activation — truly hands-free, no buttons to press
- Strong US market presence with partnerships including Henry Schein One (Dentrix Voice)
- No contracts — flexible commitment
Where Bola AI falls short
- Primarily a charting tool, not a full documentation platform — clinical notes are a secondary feature alongside perio and restorative charting
- No letter generation — no referral letters, patient letters, or reply letters from notes
- No consent form generation
- No reusable voice-triggered content for clinical explanations
- No template-free note generation like Cheat Mode — structured around specific charting transactions
- Pricing not publicly listed — requires a demo/sales conversation to get a quote
- US-focused — integrations and workflows designed primarily for American PMS systems and dental workflows
- Built by an AI/tech company, not by a practising dentist
- Voice workflows can be sensitive to operatory noise, mic choice, and staff training
- Not designed for the UK market — no GDC/NHS-specific terminology or workflows
The key differences
Charting tool vs documentation platform
Bola excels at structured voice charting — calling out perio measurements, restorative findings, and specific clinical data points that write directly into your PMS. It's built for specific 'transactions' during the appointment. DigitalTCO is built for the entire documentation workflow: clinical notes, referral letters, patient letters, consent forms, reply letters, and reusable content blocks. Bola handles what happens at the chair. DigitalTCO handles what happens at the chair AND everything that follows — the correspondence, the paperwork, the admin.
Hygienist-focused vs dentist-focused
Bola's core value proposition is helping hygienists chart perio solo without an assistant. That's a real problem and Bola solves it well. DigitalTCO is primarily designed for the dentist's documentation burden — the clinical notes, the letters to referring dentists, the consent forms, the patient communication. Both are valuable, but they solve different people's problems.
Deep PMS integration vs universal compatibility
Bola writes directly into supported PMS systems (Dentrix, Curve, Patterson, Open Dental). This is powerful if you're on one of those systems. DigitalTCO works with any PMS anywhere — generate, copy, paste. No integration project, no IT involvement, no compatibility questions. The trade-off: Bola's integration is more seamless if you're on a supported system; DigitalTCO is more universal and works immediately with anything.
US market vs UK + US market
Bola is built for the US dental market — US PMS integrations, US dental terminology, US insurance workflows. DigitalTCO serves both UK and US markets with medico-legal language and features designed for both GDC and dental board requirements. If you're a UK dentist, Bola isn't really built for you.
Feature-by-feature comparison
Pricing
DigitalTCO
Everything included. No tiers. 28-day free trial.
- All features included
- Unlimited notes
- Letters, consent forms, Spiel Store
- 28-day free trial
- Cancel anytime
Bola AI
Pricing not publicly listed. Requires a personalised demo to get a quote.
- — No public pricing — sales conversation required
- — Pricing varies by practice size, features selected, and integration needs
- — No contracts — flexible commitment
- — Free microphones sometimes offered as signup incentive
- — Demo required before purchase
One more thing that matters
DigitalTCO was built by Kevin, a practising dentist who received a formal GDC complaint — not because he did anything wrong clinically, but because his notes couldn't prove he did anything right. Seven words across multiple appointments: "Examined. Discussed options. Pt happy to proceed."
That experience led him to build the tool he wished he'd had. Every feature in DigitalTCO exists because a dentist needed it — not because an engineer thought it was clever. The complaint story, the clinical terminology, the way notes need to be structured for medico-legal defensibility — it's all baked in because the person who built it has been on the wrong end of inadequate documentation.
Bola AI was built by a technology company. DigitalTCO was built by a dentist who learned the hard way.
Try both. Decide for yourself.
Start your DigitalTCO free trial, use it alongside whatever else you're evaluating, and see which one your notes look better in.
Start My 28-Day Free Trial →Up and running in 2 minutes. Works on your phone.