AI is changing how dental students learn, and Florida is leading the way
At the University of Florida College of Dentistry, artificial intelligence isn’t doing the thinking for students — it’s helping them think smarter.
Instructional designer Carrie Wells, Ed.D., is working with faculty to turn AI into a learning partner and helping students prepare for the rapidly shifting world of dentistry. She is asking: How do we harness AI’s game-changing capabilities to elevate students’ practical skills without undermining critical thinking?
For a college that is training future health care providers, getting this right isn’t just academic; it’s about patient care.
Incorporating AI, transforming coursework
This shift is part of UF’s “AI Across the Curriculum” ethos, which is designed to ensure that every undergraduate develops AI competency — a workforce advantage the College of Dentistry’s academic programs are eager to leverage. Through a $70 million NVIDIA partnership, UF positioned itself as “the nation’s first AI university,” powered by the leading-edge HiPerGator supercomputer.
Already, the College of Dentistry’s partnership with Overjet exemplifies AI-centric success in its clinical applications. The Food and Drug Administration-cleared technology detects cavities and quantifies bone measurements on X-rays, transforming grayscale radiographs with color-coded annotations. This allows dental students to move beyond pattern recognition to focus on diagnostic reasoning, treatment planning and patient communication.
It’s clear, through clinical research initiatives like this, that AI’s ability to make highly difficult tasks simpler can result in more efficient dental training and better outcomes for patients.
However, within a large portion of the Doctor of Dental Medicine, or DMD, curriculum, using AI to make coursework simpler isn’t the objective. In fact, Wells is working directly with course directors to achieve just the opposite.
“AI can play many roles,” Wells told faculty in one of several recent AI workshops she co-hosted with College of Dentistry Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs Joseph Riley, Ph.D.
Wells explained AI’s various academic use cases as a tutor asking students questions, a designer helping with visual concepts, a planner for course structure, an editor for communication and an interviewer for reflection exercises.
“But my favorite is just a brainstorming tool,” Wells said.