Evaluation of Students Attitudes and Perceptions About Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry

Background & objectives: The adoption of articial intelligence in healthcare marks signicant change, yet there exists a disparity in how dental students perceive and approach these emerging technologies. The present study was conducted with the objective to evaluate attitudes and perceptions of students by sex and academic year regarding the use of articial intelligence (AI) in dentistry. Methods: BDS students including interns were asked to ll a questionnaire having 17 questions, structured into 2 sections: the rst part of the questionnaire was about sociodemographic characteristics. In the second part, the respondents were presented with 15 statements and asked to dene their level of agreement by choosing one of the following values: disagree, do not know, and agree. The questionnaires were evaluated to assess students' attitudes and perceptions regarding the use of articial intelligence in dentistry based on their sex and year of study using Chi-square test. The level of statistical signicance was determined at p<0.05. Results: Out of the 224 respondents, 21% were males and 79% were females. Maximum participants were BDS second year students (28%). 84.1% participants agreed that AI can be used as a treatment planning tool in the diagnosis and planning of dental treatment. Majority participants agreed that AI applications should be part of undergraduate and postgraduate dental education. However, majority participants disagreed that AI may replace dentist and doctors in the future. Conclusion: The study reveals a generally positive perception among dental students towards the integration of AI in dentistry. However, there is a consensus that while AI can signicantly assist in routine and analytical tasks, it cannot replace the judgment and interpersonal skills of dentists.