AI-Powered Dental Consultation Chatbot: Enhancing Public Healthcare Accessibility and Awareness

Abstract

The evolving landscape of healthcare has witnessed remarkable transformations owing to the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbot technology. This paper presents the development of an AI-powered dental consultation chatbot aimed at revolutionizing dental healthcare accessibility and awareness, particularly in the context of Malaysia. The chatbot serves as a valuable resource for dental self-diagnosis, information dissemination, and remote consultations, reducing the need for in-person visits to dental clinics, especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic. The adoption of chatbots in healthcare has gained momentum, driven by their ability to engage in natural language conversations, disseminate reliable information, and provide personalized assistance. Chatbots have emerged as essential tools in public health management, offering services ranging from disease understanding and information provision to counselling and facilitating doctor-patient communication. In the specific domain of dental healthcare, chatbots have the potential to alleviate challenges associated with iatrophobia (fear of disclosing dental problems) and the need for professional dental consultations. The objective of this work is to develop a user-friendly, AI-powered dental consultation chatbot accessible online. This chatbot allows users to engage in real-life conversations with the machine, conducting short self-diagnosis of their oral health conditions. Users can seek information about their dental issues, understand symptoms, and gain insights into their dental health before or after visiting a dentist. Furthermore, the chatbot system presented in this study holds the potential to ease the workload of dental practitioners by offering an alternative method of consultation. Modern digital dental technologies are increasingly focused on diagnosis and classification tasks, but few have explored the realm of dental consultation chatbots for public use. This project bridges this gap and extends the utility of AI-powered chatbots to the field of dental healthcare. This AI-powered dental consultation chatbot not only addresses the evolving healthcare needs of the post-pandemic era but also contributes to advancing dental healthcare accessibility and awareness among the population.