Exploring accountability and legal issues, Alan Clarke asks some hard questions around the use of AI in dentistry.
Since starting this column, I have been truly blown away by the speed of the artificial intelligence (AI) dental game. It really feels like during the last two months AI is everywhere.
From dental radiographs with Pearl to note taking, implant planning and practice management solutions, they are all aimed at making us better clinicians and masters of our clinical efficiency.
Having a master of laws in medical law and ethics, I want to use this grounding to discuss the complex arena of accountability with AI technology. While so many facets will make your life easier in terms of patient notes and radiographic diagnosis, the responsible clinician will ask the following questions:
- What if my diagnosis is wrong? Can the AI be wrong?
- Am I breaching GDPR?
- With whom does the responsibility and liability rest?
- Can my insurance company/NHS LDC access my diagnosis versus objective clinician data?
Medical law and ethics
As the clinician treating your patients, you have the final diagnostic opinion on their dental healthcare journey.
Just like you collate the information from vitality tests and articulating paper, observed and measured data and radiographs, AI diagnosis provides another, more robust, set of data as part of the diagnostic pathway. However, this is still just more data to inform your own diagnosis.
AI companies are very transparent on the abilities of their products, both from a clinical trust perspective but also from a software development point of view.
They are candid in the fact that their technology can make mistakes but as the data set increases these become far less frequent, so with time this already amazing technology will become even more accurate!
An interesting argument does exist for a missed diagnosis if the AI technology is available in your practice but was chosen to be disregarded or unused.
A precedent has not yet been set and while this technology is in its infancy, I cannot see any robust argument being placed in a court of law.
Full reliance
Like any diagnostic tool or clinical practice, it is important to ensure your team and clinicians are fully versed on the nuances of the product.
While being an enhancing tool, full reliance on this technology would be a mistake, especially in the hands of a less-experienced clinician who doesn’t yet have that confidence in their diagnostic abilities, reaffirmed by tenure or experience.
Avoid legal issues and train your staff really well – their dentistry will be improved and your practice growth, consistency of patient experience and reputation will elevate as a result.
Data protection and security
All AI tech companies are required to ensure that their product is fully compliant with GDPR. When software integrations are completed into your practice management software, AI providers have extremely rigorous due diligence to conduct, proving your patient data is protected at every step of the journey.
This gives you the relief that your regulatory duty is adhered to, providing an extra layer of protection and accountability taken from your hands.
Ultimately, patient data safety rests with the clinician. However, no further exposure that has not been rigorously tested has been entered into. Due care and concern has been applied if you work with the premium AI providers in the industry and patient care will ultimately be elevated as a result.
If in doubt, choose companies who have native integrations to your practice management system for that layer of accountability.
Insurance companies and your LDC cannot access any further data than that which you have submitted to them. So don’t fret.
Access to care
Dentists should also respect patients’ choices and preferences regarding the use of AI in their dental care. This includes accommodating patients who wish to opt-out of AI-assisted treatment and providing alternative options.
Dentists must ensure that AI implementation does not impede patients’ access to care, particularly for those with limited financial resources or disabilities.
Failure to do so could result in legal challenges based on discrimination or unequal treatment.
Practice management
Moving away from the purely clinical aspect of AI, the ability to use this technology to streamline your diary, maximise practice efficiency and elevate your clinic has not been fully tapped.
It is important to look at an AI practice policy, detailing its usage on your site and expanding on GDPR coverage so that all staff know its remit and purpose when quizzed by your patients, or the CQC.
Getting your team on board for this level of integration from a culture, values and training perspective will enable the potential of each team member to shine and push your clinic forward, with your imagination being the only limiting factor.
With training, policy and bravery, AI will revolutionise your dental clinic, inspire your team to look ahead, and allow for creative solutions you never imagined for your clinic and, most importantly, your patients.
Diagnostic abilities are strengthened and as technology develops we will see far faster change than we have already experienced. Get ready, because it is going to be a pivotal moment for our profession.
Catch up with more columns from Alan:
- Why your current patient treatment plans will be dead by 2025
- How AI can revolutionise the patient experience.
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