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Understanding the misalignment of dental artificial intelligence: An empirical study on clinicians' perceived needs
1Departamento de Odontología Integral Adultos, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad de La Frontera, P.C.: 4811230, Temuco, Chile.
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|August 10, 2026
Summary
Artificial intelligence (AI) in dentistry is complex. While some AI tools ease administrative tasks, they can also intensify productivity demands within the healthcare system, potentially conflicting with professional values.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare technology assessment
- Sociology of professions
- Dental practice management
Background:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) expansion in healthcare often overlooks alignment with professional values and daily practice.
- The integration of AI in dentistry requires examination beyond clinical needs and system efficiencies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how dentists evaluate artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to their professional ethos.
- To offer a practice-centered approach for assessing AI's impact on healthcare aims.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 16 dentists in active clinical practice in Chile (2025).
- Analysis focused on practitioners' evaluation of AI against their professional values and ethos.
Main Results:
- Dentistry is viewed as a moral practice emphasizing relational care and situated judgment, values increasingly challenged by marketization and acceleration.
- AI applications are perceived variably; administrative and diagnostic tools may be welcomed, but their integration within sociotechnical systems can compress time and increase productivity demands.
- AI development is influenced by data availability and technical feasibility, not always by articulated clinical needs.
Conclusions:
- AI's impact on healthcare practice, particularly dentistry, is multifaceted and context-dependent.
- A professional ethos-centered evaluation is crucial for understanding how AI may support, distort, or fail to meet healthcare objectives.
- Assessing AI requires a sociotechnical perspective that considers its embeddedness within broader institutional arrangements and professional values.