This foundational course examines how artificial intelligence can improve compassionate patient care in dentistry while upholding the highest standards of clinical excellence and professional ethics. Students learn to use AI technologies not as substitutes for human judgment, but as clinical tools that enable practitioners to focus more effectively on patient relationships, personalized care, and meaningful therapeutic interactions.

The course introduces the Clinical AI Domains Framework, which organizes dental AI into four functional areas: Predictive (risk assessment), Diagnostic (imaging analysis and clinical decision support), Operational (workflow automation and documentation), and Professional/Regulatory (ethics, compliance, education, and assessment).

Students navigate these domains using the Dental AI Compass—a teaching model that keeps clinicians oriented toward their ethical "true north" of compassionate, patient-centered care while exploring rapidly evolving AI applications.