Research Corner - Artificial intelligence with counselling on the treatment outcomes and quality of life in periodontitis patients
Dr Kitty Guo, our ECG Academic representative, has kindly written a precis of a thought-provoking article that was recently published.
Artificial intelligence with counselling on the treatment outcomes and quality of life in periodontitis patients.
The role or potential role of artificial intelligence in all of its guises is very interesting, usually controversial and an unavoidable part of the conversation of the future of healthcare. Some examples include the use of predictive AI for medical insurance claims in the USA, and the very recent use of AI in NHS England to predict frequent users of emergency services. This paper discusses the use of an AI assisted tool to evaluate a patients current periodontal condition as an adjunct to periodontal therapy. The conclusion of this study was that AI assisted monitoring did have a positive effect on treatment outcomes and long-term OHRQoL of patients with periodontitis. It highlights how this particular use of AI resulted in regular feedback relevant to the inputted imaging from the patient but lacked the personal and empathetic and high-level responses of a human practitioner. Careful use of AI in healthcare requires a thorough understanding of the intricacies of how the various forms of AI work and how the “right answer” can sometimes arise from an unexpected approach, and this comes with risks if not used without careful human stewardship.