Awareness About Artificial Intelligence Among Dental Practitioners And Dental Students

BACKGROUND Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as acquisition of intelligence by computers or machines to perform complex tasks that generally require human intelligence. Nowadays usage of AI in various fields is appreciated because of its time effectiveness and less laborious.In dentistry, AI has been trending, specifically in diagnostic imaging and early detection of diseases,benefiting both dental graduates and practitioners. AIM The main aim is to assess the awareness of Artificial intelligence as an effective tool among dental trainees and dental practitioners. MATERIALS AND METHOD An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among dental trainees and dental practitioners in various institutions. A Google questionnaire form was developed and circulated to assess participant’s awareness about Artificial intelligence in dentistry. Data were collected in Microsoft excel and statistical analysis were performed. RESULTS More than 60% of the participants showed confidence about their familiarity towards AI in dentistry (p<0.01197). Among those, 60.5% answered that they are well aware of ChatGPT and 28% of them to Microsoft Bing (p<0.04395). 53% answered that machine learning is an important form of AI (p<0.00216). Over the advantages of AI, 43% believed AI can improve diagnostics, access to disease screening, cost effectiveness, reduced treatment time (p<0.0001) and 53% agreed that AI can be useful in day-to-day dental practices (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION The present study shows that awareness of AI among the dental fraternity is satisfactory. The field of AI is emerging rapidly and various other new applications in AI are being utilised. AI could act as a valuable tool in supporting clinicians delivering effective dental care and supplementing education for dental trainees. To enhance the future of AI in dentistry, the present curriculum needs to be approachable enough and various hands-on-training are essential. KEYWORDS:artificial intelligence, chatbots, dental caries, radiographic diagnosis, teledentistry.