Rui Nunes
Artificial Intelligence and dentistry
- Doctor and Full Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP) and the first PhD in Bioethics in Portugal. Rui Nunes also holds the Title of Associate Professor in both Medical Sociology and Bioethics.
- He is the director of the Bioethics Centre at FMUP. He is also the Director of the PhD Programme in Bioethics and the PhD Programme in Palliative Care.
- He is a Full Member of the National Academy of Medicine, Chairman of the Ethics Committee (FMUP), member of the Forensic Medical Council (Ministry of Justice), and member of the National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences.
- He is president of the Portuguese Bioethics Association, president of the International Chair in Bioethics, and president of the 17th World Conference on Bioethics. He was the first president of the Health Regulatory Authority in Portugal.
- He was director of the School of Health Technologies of Porto. He has received numerous awards, including the Institutional Medal of the Federal Council of Medicine (Brazil), and the Gold Medal from the Portuguese Parliament for Human Rights.
- He was bestowed with the title of Commander of the Order of Estrela do Acre (Brazil), the title of Professor Honoris Causa by the Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, and the title of Visiting Professor by the University of El Salvador, Buenos Aires.
- His work also features the public defence of several social causes, including the proposal for the legalisation of Advance Directive of Will (2006) and, more recently, the proposal to UNESCO for a Universal Declaration on Gender Equality.
- He has also published 30 books, including: 1 – Healthcare as a Universal Human Right: Sustainability in Global Health, Routledge, New York, 2022; 2 – Encyclopaedia of Palliative Care, Almedina, Coimbra, 2023; Directivas Anticipadas de Voluntad, Federal Council of Medicine, Brasília, 2020; 4 – Bioethics, Federal Council of Medicine, Brasília, 2022; 5 – Testamento Vital, Almedina, Coimbra, 2011;
6 – GeneÉtica, Almedina, Coimbra, 2013; 7 – Democracia e Sociedade, Almedina, Coimbra, 2015; 8) – Regulação na Saúde, Vida Económica, Porto, 2021.
Nationality: Portugal
Scientific areas: In Our Agenda (Artificial Intelligence and dentistry)
22 of november, from 17h30 until 19h00
Innovation Box Area
Conference summary
It’s an undeniable fact: artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly a part of our daily lives, and dentistry is no exception, taking advantage of what best AI has to offer.
In recent years, there have been many technological advances that dentistry has tried to keep up with, whether it is in aiding diagnosis, establishing a treatment plan or in the techniques adopted to provide a more effective service.
Examples such as intraoral scanning and other equipment or software are already a reality in which AI plays a fundamental role. AI is also proving to be very useful in team and clinic management and in optimising results. However, we are still at the beginning of a long journey in exploring the potential of this powerful tool.
If, on the one hand, it represents advances that were once unimaginable, AI may cause ethical constraints for the practice of dentistry and raise questions about the limits to its use, in the conflict between clinical decision-making and the human aspect. How far can artificial intelligence take us in dentistry?