GPDUK asked readers to send us submissions for our writing competition to find our next bloggers. We had a fantastic response, with dentists showing their talent for writing. Over the next few weeks, we will be running the very best entries we received, finishing off with our two winners. We kick off with a highly commended submission from Dr Len D'Cruz, who puts the case forward how GDPs can use AI to reverse the tide around patient complaints
Very little of the world as we know it will remain untouched by AI. The physical delivery of dental treatment by robots is, mercifully, still science fiction — mostly because patients are not yet ready to entrust the soft tissues of their face to the cold steel hands of a non-sentient being. Give it time, though. It will not be long before a robot can administer a local anaesthetic more accurately than I can and find every canal in an upper second molar without breaking a sweat. To be fair, finding all the canals is probably a high bar.
What might really save dentistry, however, is a much less glamorous application of AI: large language models writing letters. Specifically, complaint letters. To a dentist, that sounds immediately unappealing. Why on earth would we want to arm patients with the technology to fire off complaints at will, and then respond equally quickly — in a matter of minutes — to our own carefully crafted reply, drafted of course with our indemnity organisation's blessing? Or perhaps the indemnity provider used AI to write that reply and quietly claimed the credit. Now there's a thought.
This form of AI tennis sounds thoroughly unedifying. Complaints with no real prospect of success clog up the practice inbox at the merest hint of a slight or anything not going according to plan. The crown didn't fit. Another impression. Another appointment. And the dentist ran late, again. So?
It really is frighteningly easy. You don't even have to type. A patient can dictate a complaint into their phone on the walk back to the car park, and by the time they have started the engine the letter is sitting in their drafts, polished and ready to send.
But here is the twist. The practice manager or dentist opening that email with the subject line 'Complaint' no longer has to feel the familiar sinking sense of anguish, anxiety or anger that normally accompanies its arrival. They simply paste the complaint into an AI platform, suggest a tone, sketch out the content and the proposed resolution, and let it draft the reply. Without a hint of emotional turmoil or bitterness, the platform produces something perfectly usable. You can send it back, and arrive home in time for a meal and a box set at roughly the same moment the patient does.
So how does this save dentistry? Fear of litigation appears to be paralysing dentists, young and old alike. It drives defensive practice, unnecessary referrals, risk aversion and general dissatisfaction with the job. Much of it is driven not by litigation itself but by the dread of complaints and the emotional toll of having to deal with them every time one lands.
Complaints are, sadly, an inevitable consequence of delivering something nobody much enjoys receiving, that is uncomfortable at best and painful at worst, and for which money has to change hands. Add in modern patient expectations and the consumer instinct to blame anyone but oneself, and you have a near-perfect recipe.
What AI does brilliantly is take away the emotional load of staring at a blank screen, with the cursor blinking at you in mute accusation. It will happily write and rewrite in any tone you ask for. The paid-for apps will even offer advice while they politely redraft, uncomplainingly, until you are satisfied — and without a single spelling or grammatical lapse.
It will save you stress. It will probably save you money. And, perhaps most importantly, it will give you back the time to go and do something more enjoyable.
Our Writing Competition hub page will feature all the winners and highly commended entries. Keep checking the page for updates