I ran three sessions across three days at ADX Sydney 2026, and one question came up in every single one: where do I actually start.
So that is how the three were built. One session to get you started, one on the marketing work, one on the operations and admin work. Practical, in order, with the tools named. Here is what each one covered.
Getting started with AI, Thursday 26 March
The first session was for anyone who has heard about generative AI for two years and still has not used it for anything real.
We covered what these tools actually are, where they fit in a practice, and the prompt structure that turns a vague request into something usable. Most people are not getting poor results because the technology is poor. They are getting poor results because they are typing one line and hoping.
We also covered which tool to use for what, and where I would not use one at all. The honest version of that list is shorter and more boring than the hype suggests, and far more useful.
Marketing and social media, Friday 27 March
The second session was about the work that never quite gets done: content, social media and the newsletter that has been in draft since February.
The problem in most practices is not creativity. It is consistency. Marketing gets done in bursts, usually when the schedule looks thin, which is exactly the wrong time to start. AI is useful here because it removes the blank page, not because it replaces the thinking.
We worked through drafting in the practice’s own voice, repurposing one piece of content into several, and building enough of a system that content still goes out in the weeks when nobody has the time.
The rule I repeated: drafted by AI, reviewed by a person, always. Anything a patient sees has a human decision behind it, and under the advertising rules that is not a preference, it is the requirement.
Operations and admin, Saturday 28 March
The third session covered the unglamorous work that quietly eats a practice: standard operating procedures, onboarding, hiring, and patient communication.
This is the part of practice life nobody trained for and nobody enjoys. Procedures live in one person’s head. New team members learn by asking whoever is closest. Job ads get rewritten from scratch every time. Recalls slip when the front desk is busy.
All of that is repeatable, documented work, which makes it the best possible use of AI in a practice and the last place most practices look. We went through drafting procedures from how the practice already works, building an onboarding pack a new starter can actually follow, writing job ads that attract the right people, and keeping patient communication consistent.
The thread running through all three
Every session came back to the same three points.
Start with the work, not the tool. Pick the task that annoys you most and is repeated weekly. That is where AI pays for itself. Buying a tool and looking for a use is how practices end up paying for software nobody opens.
A person stays in control. Drafted, reviewed, then sent. Especially anything a patient will read.
Consistency beats brilliance. A practice that communicates plainly every week beats a practice that produces something impressive twice a year.
The ADRF breakfast panel
I also facilitated the Australian Dental Research Foundation breakfast panel on the Friday morning, with Conjoint Associate Professor Deb Cockrell AM, Associate Professor Munira Xaymardan, Dr Matt Hopcraft and Professor Ajesh George. I have written about that conversation separately here, because it deserves its own space.
If you missed all three
The shortest version is this. Choose one job you do every week that you resent doing. Give it to an AI tool for a month, review everything it produces, and keep what works. That is the whole starting method.
Watch it again
The session on using AI for marketing, social media and content creation is on YouTube: watch it here.
Thank you to everyone who came along, asked questions and stayed behind afterwards, and to the ADX team for putting on a show that keeps getting better.
Related reading: how to choose AI tools for your dental practice.
Start with the work, not the tool. Pick the task that annoys you most and is repeated weekly. That is where AI pays for itself.
Carolyn S Dean, Founder, Trilbii AI
From three AI sessions for dental teams at ADX Sydney 2026, 26 to 28 March 2026.
