Clinical AI notes FAQs

Clinical AI notes is a voice-powered tool built directly into Dentally designed to help clinicians create clinical notes quickly and accurately by speaking naturally to summarise what took place and AI will transcribe and format the note.

No typing required. No toggling between applications. Just talk and let AI do the heavy lifting, so your notes don't ever take longer than the appointment again!

Dictation captures what you say, usually after the appointment. Appointment recording captures the conversation between you and the patient while the appointment is happening. Both produce a transcript that AI uses to draft your note.

You don't have to use either. You can still type your notes, use templates, or combine all three.

See What is the difference between AI note summaries and appointment recording?

There are currently two versions of AI notes available to customers. The first is Dictation only; this is available to all practices that have it on their plan. The second is our newer version, dictation and appointment recording; this is currently still in beta and being rolled out soon.

Because documenting patient visits is essential - but often time-consuming. Clinical AI notes helps cut your documentation time in half, which means:

No. Dentally only listens when you start dictation or appointment recording, and it stops when you stop it. You are always in control of when it is used.

See How to write a clinical note using dictation and How to record an appointment for full steps.

No. Clinical AI notes is a documentation tool only. It does not diagnose, recommend treatment, triage patients or make clinical decisions. It turns what was said into a draft note based on your template.

You remain responsible for the consultation, the clinical record and every clinical decision. Don't use clinical AI notes to add findings, diagnoses or treatment plans that weren't part of the appointment.

Yes. Clinical AI notes uses a dental vocabulary, so it recognises the terms you use every day. It supports a wide range of English accents.

To improve accuracy, ensure you have a good microphone, set your dialect or improve your template set up so it works better with AI. See How to set your accent settings for better voice recognition with AI notes and template best practices.

No. Clinical AI notes supports English only, and it doesn't translate. It can tell different speakers apart, but background noise and people talking over each other can affect accuracy.

No. AI-generated notes are drafts. You need to review the note, correct anything that's wrong, and then click 'Complete' and 'Mark as reviewed'. Once you've done that, the note becomes part of the clinical record in the same way as any other note you've written.

See How to complete clinical notes.

AI tools can misinterpret information and transcription accuracy can depend on audio quality. Before you complete a note, check that it:

Correct anything that's wrong before you mark as reviewed. We also recommend your practice regularly audits notes created with AI, so the tool supports clinical judgement rather than replacing it.

If you have marked a note as reviewed and later spot a mistake, you can add an amendment. See How to make amendments to completed clinical notes.

Patients should always know when you're using appointment recording. Tell them at the start of the appointment, before you start recording, and let them know they can say no.

Whether you also need formal consent depends on where your practice is:

Privacy laws vary, so check the local laws that apply to your practice.

Yes. Tell patients at the start of the consultation, before recording begins. In plain language, they should understand that:

Practices may also provide supporting information in privacy notices, appointment information or waiting-room materials.

A suggestion: "I am using an approved AI-assisted note-taking tool during your appointment. It helps create draft notes from our conversation. I will review and correct the notes before anything is saved to your record. It does not make clinical decisions. Please tell me if you would prefer me not to use it today."

When you first use appointment recording for a patient, or after a previous agreement has expired, Dentally asks you to confirm that anyone who might be recorded has given their agreement.

This creates an audit record in the clinical note history. It is valid for six months for each patient and can be revoked from the patient's audit history. It also gives you a clear point to cancel if agreement hasn't been given. In Canada, this appears every time you start a recording.

It is not a patient-facing consent form or e-signature. You still need to tell the patient verbally at the appointment. Make sure you check the local consent requirements that apply to your practice.

Yes. If a patient objects, stop appointment recording, continue the consultation and create your notes without it. You can choose to use dictation instead. If you've already confirmed agreement for that patient, you can revoke it from the patient's audit history. Document the objection if your policy or regional guidance requires it.

If you cancel the agreement prompt in Dentally, recording does not start.

There is no age restriction built into Dentally. You're responsible for getting appropriate agreement before recording. Depending on the patient's age, their capacity and the nature of the appointment, this may include agreement from a parent or guardian. Use your professional judgement about whether recording is appropriate.

Your practice (the data controller) remains responsible for the patient health information in its care. Henry Schein One (the data processor) processes that information on your practice's behalf under your customer agreement and privacy terms. See Dentally Legal Stuff for our privacy policy and details.

No. For both dictation and appointment recording, audio is processed in real time to create a transcript but is not stored. Audio can't be replayed in Dentally. Only the transcript and the clinician-reviewed note are kept.

Yes. Transcripts are kept as part of the clinical note audit trail. While a note is a draft, you can view and edit the transcript. Once the note is completed, the transcript is no longer shown in the main note view, but it stays in the audit trail for support and troubleshooting. The completed clinical note is the authoritative record.

No. Patient data from clinical AI notes and appointment recording is not used to train third-party AI models. Limited data may be used under strict controls for support and product improvements.

Your practice remains responsible for responding to patient access and correction requests. The completed clinical note forms part of the clinical record and is included in standard exports.

Transcripts in the audit trail are mainly for support and troubleshooting, not a separate patient-facing record.

Clinical AI notes uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the same region as the rest of your Dentally platform. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

See list for sub-processors.

We use AWS Bedrock to access models to provide the summarisation. We update the model based on testing of accuracy to give the best user experience whilst maintaining patient safety.

Customers are responsible for approving use of the feature locally, completing any DPIA/IG assessment, informing patients, managing objections, ensuring appropriate user training, reviewing all outputs before saving, correcting inaccuracies, and maintaining compliance with clinical, data protection, and professional obligations. See our AI policy.

The customer, as data controller, is responsible for determining whether a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is required. In practice, a DPIA is highly likely to be necessary for ambient scribing in health and care settings, as it involves the use of new technology and the processing of special category health data.

This FAQ document is intended to support customers in completing a DPIA if required. Henry Schein One has also conducted an internal DPIA for this feature, which is not shared externally.

Level 2 users and above can see note audits when writing and reviewing note amendments for clinical notes. Level 4 users and above can see the full granular audit history. See How to find your clinical note transcripts, recordings, and history.

Clinical AI notes is designed to meet applicable privacy and healthcare data regulations. It is protected by encryption in transit and at rest, access controls and audit logging. We also use secure development processes, vulnerability management, incident response and supplier governance.

We hold the following certifications/assurances: Cyber Essentials; NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT); UK Class 1 Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (MDR).

For more details, see Dentally Security Policy and Clinical AI notes and Ambient Listening regulatory and compliance information.

Clinical AI notes is certified UK MDR Class 1, see Medical device labels.

Yes. Clinical AI notes is covered by DCB0129, the NHS clinical safety standard. Hazard logs and related documents are available on request through your Dentally account team or Support.

Henry Schein One will notify your practice without undue delay if we become aware of a personal data breach affecting your data. We will also provide reasonable information and support. Your practice remains responsible for any required notifications to patients or regulators.

Dictation is available depending on your plan. The newer version which includes Appointment recording is in Beta testing and will be rolled out more widely soon. Contact support to get early access to this feature.

Appointment recording is free for a limited time during the initial rollout. More details on pricing will be shared in early 2027.

If you use dictation only, see the Dentally pricing page for details.

For those using the dictation feature, if you exceed your monthly allowance:

You can keep using clinical AI notes with no interruption to your workflow. Any usage beyond your monthly credit limit will be billed at 20p per note, and this will appear clearly on your next invoice.

To view your current plan details or check usage simple navigate to "Settings" -> "Practice" -> "AI Notes".

If you use dictation only, a level 4 user can turn off clinical AI notes in 'Settings' > 'Practice' > 'AI Notes'.

If you use appointment recording, contact our Support team to turn it off. Access is controlled at practice level, so you can't currently turn it off for individual users.

Got questions or want to register your interest? Start a support chat — we’d love to hear from you.