How we use AI

AI Scribe: help with your notes

AI Scribe is part of CareStack, the system that holds our patient records. With your permission, it turns what we discuss during your appointment into draft clinical notes.

Your clinician reads, corrects and completes every draft before it is saved to your record. The software can mishear or miss things, which is exactly why nothing goes into your record unchecked.

We ask you first, every time, and we note your answer. If you say no, your clinician writes the notes the usual way, and it makes no difference to your care. If you change your mind part-way through an appointment, we stop straight away and that session's recording is deleted.

The audio is processed by Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service in Australia, and recordings and transcripts are stored in Australia. CareStack's support staff can access them only to fix a technical problem, and every access is logged. Within the practice, access is limited by user permissions.

Voice Perio: charting by voice

Some of our clinicians also use Voice Perio, another CareStack tool. During a gum examination, it turns spoken measurements into entries on your gum chart, so the clinician can keep their eyes and attention on you rather than a keyboard. We ask your permission in the same way, and every entry is checked.

Diagnocat: a second set of eyes on your X-rays

Diagnocat is an AI service built for dental radiology. It analyses X-rays and 3D scans and produces a report that highlights anything worth a closer look, from early decay to changes around the roots of teeth.

It is a second set of eyes, not a replacement for ours. Your dentist examines your X-rays as they always have, reviews Diagnocat's report alongside them, and makes every diagnosis and every decision about your care.

Your X-rays and scans stay part of your dental record with us; copies are sent to Diagnocat to produce its report. Diagnocat is provided by a company based in the United States, and its published terms say patient images are hosted on Google Cloud servers in the European Union. We have asked Diagnocat to confirm these details for our accounts in writing, and we will update this page when it replies.

Diagnocat's standard terms also allow it to use anonymised images to research and develop its software. We have asked it in writing not to use any of our patients' images in this way. If you would rather we didn't use Diagnocat on your images at all, just tell us, and we'll note it on your file.

The choices you have

• We ask before using AI Scribe or Voice Perio, every time, and we record your answer.
• You can say no, or change your mind at any time, including part-way through an appointment.
• You can ask us not to use Diagnocat on your X-rays and scans.
• None of these choices changes the care you receive.

Questions

Ask any of our team at your next visit, or call us on 03 5989 2144. Our privacy policy explains how we look after all of your information, including with these tools.