A review of the queries Dental Protection has received from its members on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the last 12 months, has prompted the leading defence organisation to publish a Q&A on its website to help practitioners better understand AI and mitigate any potential risks.
The Top 10 AI questions to Dental Protection over the last year have been:
- When should I consider using AI?
- How should I select an AI system?
- What types of outputs can AI produce?
- How should AI findings be interpreted and explained?
- Who makes the final clinical decision?
- What if the AI output conflicts with clinical findings?
- How important is data quality?
- What must patients be told about AI?
- What risks of AI should be explained?
- Who holds the duty of care when AI is used?
The AI Q&A follows the launch of Dental Protection’s AI Safer Practice Framework aimed to help dental professionals integrate AI safely and responsibly into practice. The framework, designed by Raj Rattan, is made up of two parts – INFORMED and RECORDS – and has been structured around these acronyms to ensure it is practical and memorable.
Raj Rattan, who started in his new role as Global Adviser at Medical Protection Society last week, commented: “AI is a fast-evolving field and at MPS, of which Dental Protection is a key part, we aim to remain at the heart of it – helping to ensure members and their patients reap the potential benefits, while providing advice and support which helps members mitigate any emergent risks.
“Having reviewed the range of queries Dental Protection has received in relation to AI in the last 12 months, 10 common questions emerged. These centre on better understanding AI systems in dentistry and the data on which they are trained, interpretation of AI findings and patient consent.
“More specific advice has also been sought on the dentolegal implications in cases where the AI output conflicts with clinical findings, and the ultimate responsibility for decision making and duty of care.
“While the Q&A by no means covers every question or concern around AI use, I hope it is helpful in addressing some of the basic questions many dental professionals may be asking themselves as they consider use of AI tools to enhance patient care and help to facilitate more efficient working.”
