5 Ethical Considerations Before Using AI at Your OMS Practice

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AI in dentistry is changing how oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) practices operate — streamlining diagnostics, enhancing patient engagement, and optimizing workflows. But with new tools come new responsibilities. As OMS practices begin to explore AI-powered solutions, it’s critical to consider the ethical implications to ensure patient safety, trust, and compliance.

Here are five essential ethical considerations before implementing AI at your OMS practice.

1. Patient privacy and data security

AI systems require access to patient data to function effectively, whether it’s for appointment automation, diagnosis support, or surgical planning. That means protecting sensitive health information must be a top priority.

What to consider:

• Does the AI tool comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States, and other data privacy regulations, such as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada?
• How is patient data collected, stored, and used?
• Is data encrypted and access controlled?

Ensuring strong security protocols helps maintain patient trust and protects your practice from legal risk.

2. Transparency in AI decision-making

Some AI systems make decisions without clearly showing how those decisions were made. This is sometimes known as “black box” AI. In a clinical setting — especially in oral surgery — this can be problematic. Some things to consider include:

• Can your team explain how the AI arrived at a recommendation or action?
• Are clinicians encouraged to validate AI-generated insights rather than rely on them without analysis?

Transparency promotes accountability and reinforces the role of human expertise in patient care.

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3. Bias and fairness in AI algorithms

AI in dentistry is only as good as the data it’s trained on. There are many concerns that AI delivers biased recommendations, specifically perpetuating racist and other prejudicial norms within healthcare and dentistry.

With this in mind, some considerations might be:

• Is the AI system trained on representative data?
• Are there any known performance disparities across different demographic groups?

Actively seeking out vendors who address bias, and regularly evaluating outcomes across patient types, can help ensure equity in treatment.

4. Impact on patient-provider relationships

While automation and AI tools can improve efficiency, they shouldn’t come at the expense of the human connection in healthcare. Patients undergoing oral and maxillofacial surgery often have anxiety and lots of questions. Face-to-face interactions with your team are an important part of the patient experience that AI cannot replace.

Here’s some things to consider to maintain that human connection:

• Does the AI enhance or diminish the quality of patient communication?
• Are patients aware when they are interacting with AI versus a human?

Use AI to augment care, not replace the compassionate, personal touch that builds trust and patient loyalty.

5. Informed consent and patient autonomy

Patients have a right to know when AI is involved in their care. Whether it’s AI-assisted diagnostics, predictive modeling, or automated messaging, transparency supports informed decision-making.

Here are some questions to consider when asking for consent:

• Are patients made aware when AI is used in their treatment or communication?
• Do they have the option to opt out?

Being upfront about AI use not only fulfills ethical obligations. It can also empower patients to better engage with their care.

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