Dental cybersecurity is a big challenge for practices of all sizes. Most dentists want to grow using technology, and it’s not always easy to see the risks, additional research, costs, and time needed to leverage technology safely.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, dentists are increasingly adopting AI technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT to streamline operations, improve patient communication, and enhance clinical decision-making.
However, with this digital transformation comes a new set of challenges surrounding patient privacy and data security. Striking a balance between technological innovation and patient confidentiality has become a pivotal concern for the modern dental practice.
There are some potential privacy and security risks associated with using AI technologies like ChatGPT in a healthcare environment such as dentistry.
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and few minutes of cyber-incident to ruin it.”
— Stephane Nappo , Vice President Global Chief Information Security Officer
Here are the primary concerns while implementing AI technologies in a dental practice:
Data Privacy:
OpenAI’s language models, such as GPT-4, are not designed to handle sensitive information and should not be used to process personally identifiable information (PII), personal health information (PHI), or other types of sensitive data. It’s important that dentists do not input any sensitive patient data when interacting with these models.
Data Security:
There’s the potential risk of data breaches or cyberattacks that might compromise the data being processed. It’s important to remember that any system connected to the internet, including AI applications, is potentially vulnerable to these kinds of attacks.
Vendor Data Handling:
Dentists must make sure to stay updated with OpenAI’s data usage policy and ensure it aligns with their own obligations to patient confidentiality and data handling regulations. Applications interfacing with ChatGPT via API’s might inadvertently put the dental practice at risk.
Inadvertent Disclosure:
AI systems like ChatGPT generate responses based on input. If sensitive data is entered as an input, the AI could potentially include that information in its output, inadvertently disclosing sensitive information to unauthorized individuals.
Reliability of Information:
AI models like ChatGPT generate information based on learned patterns and do not have access to up-to-date or context-specific information. There’s a risk that the AI might provide incorrect or misleading information which could lead to inappropriate decisions about patient care.
Ethical Concerns:
The use of AI in healthcare introduces new ethical considerations. For instance, it’s crucial to ensure patients are informed about the use of AI in their care, and that they understand how it’s being used.
To mitigate these risks, it’s crucial to carefully manage how ChatGPT and other AI models are used, particularly in terms of the information that’s shared with them.
Furthermore, robust cybersecurity measures should be implemented to protect against potential data breaches or cyberattacks.
Privacy & Security Considerations:
Because implementing AI in dentistry raises some privacy and security considerations. Here is a basic checklist to ensure best practices:
Data Privacy Compliance:
- Comply with provincial and federal data privacy regulations, as well as professional college guidelines.
- Obtain informed consent from patients about the use of their personal data. Ensure they understand what data is being collected, how it will be used, stored, and protected.
- Implement data minimization practices. Only collect and store necessary data.
Data Security:
- Use encryption for data at rest and in transit. This protects the information if it’s intercepted or accessed inappropriately.
- Implement a strong password policy and two-factor authentication.
- Regularly perform vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to detect any potential security weaknesses.
Vendor Assessment:
- Understand the data privacy and security policies of the AI provider (e.g., OpenAI for GPT). Ensure they align with your own privacy standards and legal obligations.
- Define roles and responsibilities in case of a data breach. This should be part of your contractual agreement with the provider.
Access Controls:
- Limit the access to sensitive data to authorized personnel only.
- Implement strict user permissions. Not everyone needs access to all patient data.
- Log and monitor data access. Regularly review and audit these logs.
Training:
- Provide ongoing training for all staff regarding data privacy and security regulations, the potential risks of non-compliance, and how to avoid common security threats (like phishing). There is a course specifically for dental teams.
AI Ethics:
- Make sure AI usage is transparent to patients.
- Be clear about where and how AI is being used, and offer patients the option to opt-out if possible.
Data Breach Plan:
- Have a response plan in place for data breaches. This should include identifying the breach, containing it, notifying affected individuals, and reporting it to relevant authorities.
Risk Assessment:
- Regularly conduct a risk assessment to identify potential privacy and security threats.
Data Retention and Deletion:
- Have policies in place for how long data is retained and how it is securely deleted once it is no longer needed.
Physical Security:
- Ensure physical security measures are in place to prevent unauthorized access to systems and devices containing patient data.
This checklist should be considered as a starting point. Depending on your specific situation, additional steps may be necessary. A Professional Cybersecurity Risk Assessment should be conducted annually to ensure your practice is able to address vulnerabilities in your team behaviour, training,, processes, and systems.
