The role of AI in advancing evidence-based dentistry

Evidence-based dentistry (EBD) is widely regarded as the gold standard in global oral healthcare owing to the increasing complexity of clinical dentistry. EBD integrates top-quality scientific evidence with clinical expertise and patient values to enhance clinical decision-making.¹ Given that medical knowledge is being constantly updated, streamlining the search process is imperative. Finding high-quality clinical care evidence is a demanding task. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has shown great potential in enhancing EBD by uncovering patterns and connections in medical data, big data analysis and evidence synthesis, and aiding clinical decision support.^2,3,4

AI can automate time-consuming tasks such as literature searching and screening. Machine learning approaches, for instance, can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of high-quality clinical evidence retrieval in biomedical literature, allowing rapid evidence synthesis.⁵ Additionally, natural language models can extract key data from texts, automating evidence collection and providing quick access to up-to-date information, thereby enhancing clinical decision-making and improving patient outcomes.⁶ Moreover, AI tools like ChatGPT can improve scientific writing by facilitating and accelerating the creation of high-quality literature reviews and research articles. They assist in data management, error identification, and offer diverse perspectives. It is essential, however, to review and edit generated text to avoid issues, such as plagiarism.⁷