Artificial intelligence is changing both clinical practice and the way patients make complaints, according to the new dental director at Dental Protection.
Following his appointment, Dr George Wright has made the safe use of AI and dental professionals' wellbeing two of his key priorities.
In an interview with Dental Protection's Riskwise journal, Dr Wright said healthcare professionals were already using AI in practice while patients were turning to the technology to help formulate complaints.
He said: 'As AI develops, we need to stay ahead of it, continue evolving our knowledge, and ensure members are supported in terms of how it affects both clinical work and complaints.
'We need to stay alive to how AI is shaping expectations and how we respond.'
Dental Protection has previously raised concerns about the implications of AI for professional liability, publishing its Closing the AI Liability Gap report in June and calling on the government to address what it described as a widening divide between existing law and the use of AI in healthcare.
The organisation also introduced an AI Safer Practice Framework last year to support dental professionals adopting the technology.
Dr Wright highlighted that dento-legal issues ‘can have a profound impact on wellbeing too’.
He said: ‘Our members all over the world deal with complaints at some point in their careers – complaints that affect relationships, confidence, enjoyment of dentistry, and how they practise afterwards.
'No matter where they are in the world, our members are driven, capable clinicians who want to do right by their patients, and the emotional cost of a complaint is felt universally.'
Dr Wright emphasised the importance of support reflecting differences in how individual dental professionals experienced complaints.
He also pointed to his own experience of education as a source of confidence and fresh perspective.
Dr Wright said: 'I am firmly convinced of the vital role education also plays in supporting wellbeing, fostering professional growth, and ultimately improving patient care.'
In June, GDPUK reported on how patients AI-generated complaints are causing more problems for dental practices.