What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a high-tech conversational chatbot. It was released on November 30th, 2022 by developer OpenAI. It is able to give articulate, [mostly] human-sounding responses to just about any question or statement.
The creators of ChatGPT claim that it can “answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.” The program is currently free but there are plans to monetize it later.
You can create a free account and play around with ChatGPT here: https://chat.openai.com/chat
ChatGPT on Orthodontic and Dental Websites
It is early in the game. ChatGPT is not ready to handle your website requests from a sales and marketing perspective. We tested the basic chatbot with an appointment request: “My daughter needs an appointment for braces.” ChatGPT spit out 142 words of long-winded background on braces and orthodontists. Here’s the transcript:
Braces are a common treatment for misaligned teeth and can help improve the appearance and function of the teeth and jaw. To schedule an appointment for your daughter to get braces, you will need to visit an orthodontist. Orthodontists are dental professionals who specialize in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of dental and facial abnormalities. They can assess your daughter’s teeth and recommend the most appropriate type of braces for her needs.
To find an orthodontist in your area, you can search online directories or ask for recommendations from your regular dentist or other healthcare providers. You can also ask friends or family members if they have any recommendations. Once you have found a few options, you can contact the orthodontist’s office to schedule an appointment. Be sure to bring your daughter’s dental records and any relevant insurance information with you to the appointment.
Clearly, that answer would not be helpful to a prospective patient on your website. With more testing, learning, and optimization, there may be a future here. But the AI chatbot ChatGPT is not ready to replace a live person monitoring your website chat.
Daniel Caleb, who leads the IT and Web Development teams at Kaleidoscope, offered this insight: “A connective tool like Zapier (rhymes with ‘happier’) would help us to automate routing messages to text or email. We would still have to build the interface (or chatbox) that would be installed on the website.”
There are different ways to shape your AI sandbox. The core technology of ChatGPT is more than sufficient for an orthodontic website, but it needs to be given parameters, similar to building a website plugin.
How Can an Orthodontic or Dental Practice Use ChatGPT?
Content creation! You can use ChatGPT technology to quickly get you started on a blog post or a new page of content for your website. We asked the chatbot to write a blog about the importance of seeing an orthodontist as a 7-year-old. ChatGPT instantly produced six paragraphs of authoritative, coherent writing on the different reasons that an early orthodontic exam can be beneficial.
We recommend re-working, editing, or adding to any ChatGPT content to make it your own. If you’re just copying and pasting the AI-generated content, other people could be doing the same thing. You don’t want duplicate content (that is identical to the content on other websites). Use ChatGPT to get you started, and then make some edits and tweaks to put your own voice on it.
In its current form, ChatGPT is not ready to be a “plug-and-play” solution for orthodontic and dental websites. But that could change soon! Keep checking the Kaleidoscope website for updates on ChatGPT and other key developments.
Do you have questions about your orthodontic web design, SEO, and digital marketing? Contact Kaleidoscope for a free evaluation!
