“We recommend that dental educators integrate AI tools like ChatGPT into their teaching”

Why do dental educators in Turkey and Estonia strongly believe that generative AI will improve dental education, whereas those in Italy and Norway do not? Even within culturally similar regions such as the Nordic countries, there are differences, such as between Norway and Finland.

We tested several possible explanations, such as whether the age of the respondents influenced their answers, but this was not the case. After adjusting for age, the results hold. So, other explanations warrant further research. For example, in some countries, people have adopted other technologies and, having seen no change, have become sceptics. Or is the lack of belief related to more traditional institutions constraining a lot of bureaucracy to adapt the curriculum? We do not know, and we hope that more researchers will look into this area and the questions we have uncovered.

Given the cautious, yet optimistic view of integrating AI tools in dental curricula, what practical steps or recommendations would you suggest for dental educators who are considering incorporating these technologies into their teaching methods?
Dr Uribe: We recommend that dental educators integrate AI tools like ChatGPT into their teaching as much as possible and encourage students to do the same. The sooner they begin using these tools, the sooner they will understand their potential and limitations.

One significant potential is the ability to summarise and adapt content for different learning contexts. For instance, a dental educator could ask ChatGPT to generate simplified explanations of complex topics, ensuring that every technical term is clarified and accompanied by practical examples. Similarly, students could use AI to generate questions from their lecture notes to help them assess their understanding. The key is for educators and students to explore these tools early and often to realise their full potential while being aware of their limitations.

For example, for a dentistry lecturer, the following would be a useful prompt that explains the context and the role ChatGPT must play and the expected outcome:

For a dental student, a useful prompt might look something like this:

Regarding limitations, students must realise how often these large language models tend to “hallucinate”, producing plausible content that is incorrect or made up. For example, this is the output of ChatGPT when asked to write an essay about the latest research on amelogenesis and begin to link amelogenesis to political activities:

As you can see, although the text sounds coherent, it erroneously attempts to make a connection between two completely unrelated topics: the biological process of enamel formation and political activities. For health educators, this highlights the importance of equipping students with the skills to evaluate health-related content critically. With the increasing likelihood that ChatGPT-generated content will appear in news articles, blogs, social media and even scientific journals, the ability to assess the accuracy and reliability of information will become an essential part of dental education.

Based on your findings, what are the key areas for future research to better understand the role of AI chatbots in dental education?
Dr Uribe: Future studies should focus on explaining why differences exist between countries in their adoption and perception of AI in dental education. Additionally, future research should explore the best strategies for implementing generative AI in a way that aligns with the goals and curriculum of dental institutions. It will also be crucial to track the outcomes of this implementation: has the use of generative AI improved student performance and understanding of dental concepts? Which areas of dental education benefit the most from generative AI? These are essential questions that need to be addressed to optimise the use of AI in dental education.

Do you have anything further that you would like to share with our readers regarding the present paper or any related research that you are working on?
Prof. Schwendicke: Yes. We’ve already published some papers that help contextualise this research. For example, we have outlined the essential elements of AI in the dental curriculum in a recent publication,¹ contributed to a white paper for FDI World Dental Federation on what dentists should consider when using AI in clinical practice² and created a readers’ guide for navigating the AI-related dental literature.³ In addition, we are currently editing a book on AI for dentistry, which we believe will help dental educators and practitioners integrate AI into dental education and practice. We are currently researching the integration of AI into dental education and the broader efficacy of AI for dental care. This is a fascinating area of research, and we look forward to continuing to explore how AI can transform the dental profession and improve patient care.