Effectiveness of Chatbot-Assisted Learning in Real Dental Student Cohorts: A Systematic Review, Exploratory Meta-analysis, and Functional Narrative Synthesis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/v53g9z81Keywords:
Chatbot-assisted learning; Dental education; Artificial intelligence in dentistry; Systematic review; Meta-analysis.Abstract
Artificial intelligence chatbots are increasingly being incorporated into dental education, but their effectiveness in real student cohorts remains uncertain. This systematic review, meta-analysis, and functional narrative synthesis evaluated the educational impact of chatbot-assisted learning interventions in dental students, focusing on student performance, self-efficacy, and domain-specific applications. A systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Embase was conducted for studies published up to May 2026. Eligible studies included real dental students exposed to chatbot-assisted educational interventions and assessed using explicit comparators or meaningful pre-post designs. Risk of bias was assessed with RoB 2.0 and the JBI checklist, and certainty of evidence was evaluated using GRADE. Eight studies involving 716 undergraduate dental students were included in the qualitative synthesis, and two studies were included in an exploratory meta-analysis. The pooled estimate favored chatbot-assisted learning over comparator conditions for overall student educational performance (SMD=0.62, 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.87; I²=0%), although this finding should be interpreted cautiously because only two studies were pooled and they assessed different manifestations of educational performance. Certainty of evidence was low. Functional narrative synthesis identified four educational domains: knowledge acquisition and academic performance; clinical reasoning and diagnostic communication; operative and procedural skill support; and academic writing, evidence handling, and reflective tasks. Chatbot-assisted learning appears promising, but current evidence remains limited, heterogeneous, and context-dependent.
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