TLDR: The University of Florida College of Dentistry is at the forefront of integrating artificial intelligence into its curriculum, aiming to sharpen students’ clinical thinking, diagnostic judgment, and ethical reflection. This initiative is part of UF’s broader ‘AI Across the Curriculum’ strategy, leveraging a significant partnership with NVIDIA and the HiPerGator supercomputer.
The University of Florida (UF) College of Dentistry is revolutionizing dental education by embedding artificial intelligence (AI) across its programs, a strategic move aligned with the university’s comprehensive ‘AI Across the Curriculum’ initiative. This pioneering effort seeks to cultivate AI fluency among students, enhancing their clinical reasoning, diagnostic capabilities, and ethical decision-making skills without supplanting human judgment.
Leading this transformative endeavor is Carrie Wells, Ed.D., an instructional designer at UFCD. Dr. Wells is actively working with faculty to integrate AI tools into course structures and assessments, framing AI not as a replacement for traditional instruction but as a powerful tool to elevate cognitive load towards higher-order thinking. She emphasizes AI’s role as a ‘great debate partner,’ encouraging students to explore different perspectives.
A key application of AI is seen in the college’s partnership with Overjet, an FDA-cleared AI tool utilized in UFCD clinics. Overjet analyzes dental radiographs, detecting cavities and quantifying bone measurements with color-coded annotations. This technology enables dental students to move beyond mere pattern recognition, fostering a deeper focus on diagnostic reasoning, treatment planning, and effective patient communication.
Beyond clinical tools, Dr. Wells is directly collaborating with faculty to revise and redesign the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) curriculum. A notable example is the introduction of an AI-powered interviewer in a fourth-year professionalism course. This AI interviewer prompts students to reflect on clinical decisions by asking targeted follow-up questions, leading to a more profound exploration of ethical dilemmas encountered in clinics. As Dr. Wells stated, ‘We needed evidence of a deeper exploration of the students’ ethical dilemmas in clinics, and the AI interview was the opportunity to demonstrate this.’ This approach helps students develop more meaningful self-assessments without the AI writing essays for them.
UF’s commitment to AI education is bolstered by a substantial $70 million partnership with NVIDIA and the university’s cutting-edge HiPerGator supercomputer. This robust infrastructure supports experimentation with large language models in student training, all while maintaining a strong emphasis on faculty-led instruction. The goal is to prepare students for the rapidly evolving landscape of dentistry, ensuring they can harness AI’s game-changing capabilities to elevate practical skills while preserving critical thinking.
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This progressive pedagogical perspective guides Dr. Wells’ work, reshaping both content delivery and student engagement. Certain courses are being re-envisioned to incorporate more AI, with course directors developing activities and students using AI to complete them with support from the instructional design team. The University of Florida College of Dentistry is thus positioning its graduates to be at the forefront of advanced patient care, equipped with the skills to navigate an AI-integrated future.
