5 office tasks dentists hand to ChatGPT and Claude, and the rules they set
How the case names it:
- ChatGPT
Result lines that name it
- In a February 2025 r/Dentistry thread on how ChatGPT changed people's practice, the top-scored practical reply (28 points in the archive snapshot) was writing patient dismissal letters. A second dentist said they do the same and asked whether that might be the only real use.
Source - In the same thread, one dentist said they use ChatGPT to make notes and replies to problem patients sound more professional, and for appeal letters. They treat it as a first draft and warned against including PHI. Others use it for patient letters and emails, including a recommendation letter for an RDA applying to hygiene school.
Source - One commenter called ChatGPT great for consent forms, templates and post-op instructions. A reply said the practice's malpractice carrier should already provide resources like these.
Source - One commenter said they used ChatGPT to analyze their P&L and come up with a strategy for profitability. Two people asked for details, but none appear in the archived thread.
Source - The most-upvoted comment in the January 2025 thread (50 points) came from a dentist who asked ChatGPT exactly what to write on a crown claim to get it approved. According to the dentist, ChatGPT replied that doing so would be unethical.
Source - Two comments (14 and 7 points) warned against using ChatGPT to check drug interactions. One called it unsafe; the other pointed to professional resources such as UpToDate.
Source - Sidebar: a June 2026 r/Dentists post described a home-built MCP bridge between Open Dental and Claude, offered for marketing ROI, dashboards and schedule questions. Commenters raised HIPAA and BAA objections, and one suggested starting with schedule and production dashboards rather than notes or patient messages. Another said Open Dental support told them there were no current plans to integrate with Claude or ChatGPT. The builder later said the guide would not be shared publicly.
Source - Sidebar: Dentalpreneur Podcast show notes say Dr. Bill Keith explained how a 20-op practice outside Kansas City uses AI, and mention his background in accounting and finance. The talk covered SQL queries, Open Dental integration, real-time marketing automation, building a custom AI receptionist and analyzing big data with ChatGPT.
Source - Sidebar: the part 2 show notes say Dr. Keith uses ChatGPT, Canva and a custom voice assistant named Abby, analyzes data from Open Dental, writes SQL queries in seconds, and has AI bots summarize 200-page legal contracts.
Source - CDA guidance from August 2025, written by its HIPAA compliance partner Abyde, says dentists should never put patient data into the free public ChatGPT. Whichever version is used, it says to de-identify data and enter only the minimum necessary. Any vendor that can access PHI must sign a BAA, and a clinician should review every AI output.
Source
What the case says did not go well
- One dentist said ChatGPT refused to help word a crown claim so it would get approved, and called that unethical. That was the top comment in its thread.
- The student who started the thread, and another student, said they use ChatGPT for drug interactions. Practicing dentists called that unsafe and pointed to UpToDate.