Is an AI-written dental note defensible?

The short answer

Yes, if it is accurate, written at the time, and you checked it before you signed it. The dentist who signs the note is responsible for it, not the software. As Dental Protection puts it, “‘The AI got it wrong’ is never going to be an accepted defense” (Dental Protection, July 2026).

A draft you have read and corrected is as defensible as a note you typed. A draft you signed unread is not.

What makes any dental note defensible?

The same rules apply whoever, or whatever, typed it. GDC Standard 4.1 says you must “make and keep contemporaneous, complete and accurate patient records” (GDC Standards for the Dental Team). The guidance under it adds that you should:

record as much detail as you can about what you discussed with the patient, and show that consent was valid (4.1.2);
make records clear and accurate, with the treating clinician’s name or initials (4.1.4);
mark any later change clearly and date it (4.1.5).

An AI scribe doesn’t change any of this. It changes how the first draft is made, and so it changes what you need to check.

What changes when AI drafts the note?

Four kinds of mistake are worth knowing about.

Wrong teeth and wrong words

In a 2025 King’s College London study of ten speech-recognition systems, the best coped well with accents and background noise. But the researchers found that “clinically significant errors” such as misidentified teeth “can still occur”, and recommended that clinicians review and edit transcripts rather than trust them blindly (King’s College London, November 2025).

Things that weren’t said

Language models can add detail that nobody said. Dental Protection warns that records “must be thoroughly checked to ensure hallucinations don’t creep in” (Dental Protection).

Who said what

A scribe can attach the patient’s words to you, or the other way round. GP guidance gives the example of a patient’s hypothetical statement written up as a confirmed diagnosis (GPC England’s summary of NHS England guidance, 2025).

Too much, or too little

A scribe only knows what was said aloud. A finding you saw but didn’t mention won’t be in the draft. At the other extreme, long notes are not safer notes. Dental Protection says “voluminous records can be as risky as skinny, undetailed notes”, and BDA Indemnity’s Len D’Cruz has said that “copious notes do not necessarily mean more accurate notes” (Dentistry.co.uk, August 2026).

How do you check an AI draft before you sign it?

Read the whole note once, with these questions in mind:

Teeth. Is every tooth number the tooth you examined or treated?
Who said it. Are the symptoms and history the patient’s, and the findings yours?
Nothing added. Is there any finding, diagnosis or advice you didn’t give?
Nothing missing. Did you see or do anything you didn’t say aloud: the soft-tissue check, a radiograph’s justification, grade and report?
Options and choice. Are all the options there, including no treatment, with the risks you explained and what the patient chose?
Consent and costs. Is it clear how consent was given and that costs were explained?
Length. Can anything repeated or padded be cut?

Then correct it and sign it. If you can’t check it properly now, don’t sign it yet.

What should you tell your indemnity provider?

Tell them you use an AI scribe, which one, and that you review and sign every note. Ask whether they want you to record AI use in the notes. Their answer is the one that counts for your cover, so ask them rather than relying on a vendor’s word, including ours.

Dental Protection’s UK AI Safer Practice Framework has a records step that captures “clinical rationale, the role AI has played, and the clinician’s final decision” (Dental Protection, October 2025). GP guidance makes the same point about who answers for the note: the final output is “legally and clinically attributable to the practitioner” (GPC England summary).

Squte is not approved or endorsed by any indemnity provider, and we don’t claim it is.

How should you correct a signed note?

Never overwrite or delete what was signed. Add a correction, clearly marked and dated, as GDC guidance 4.1.5 asks. Say what changed and why. The original entry stays visible, which is what makes the record trustworthy.

In Squte, a signed note is locked. A correction is added as a dated addendum with a reason, under the name of the clinician who wrote it, and the signed note stays as it was.

What does Squte do to help?

Nothing goes in the record until you have checked and signed the note. Until then it is a draft.
Squte records a diagnosis only when you say it, in your words. It never suggests one from the findings.
Sections the appointment didn’t cover are left blank rather than filled with stock phrases.
A short voice sample lets Squte tell your voice from the patient’s.
You can change any part of the draft by typing or by saying the change. Changes are logged with who made them and when.
The patient’s consent is saved with the visit before anything is recorded.
Audio is deleted 30 days after the note is signed. The signed note and transcript stay as the clinical record.