Digital path opened for China-ASEAN dental cooperation

Serving as China's frontline hub for engagement with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is deploying artificial intelligence to overcome geographic distances and language barriers and build new digital avenues for exchanges and collaboration in stomatology between China and the region.

Kuang Hai, deputy Party secretary of the Guangxi Medical University College Hospital of Stomatology, said AI has become a key tool to advance China-ASEAN health cooperation, shifting the partnership from traditional academic visits toward a two-way, inclusive phase covering medical services and workforce development.

The hospital has long supported health collaboration with ASEAN and has hosted the China-ASEAN Forum on Dentistry for nine consecutive years. Since 1992, it has trained more than 200 dental professionals from 15 ASEAN countries and regions. Its collaborative network now stretches to medical institutions and universities across 35 countries worldwide.

As the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership took effect, regional trade and cross-border mobility have grown easier. The hospital has integrated AI across clinical care, hospital operations and cross-border training to resolve practical hurdles facing international collaboration.

Robust smart infrastructure forms the foundation for cross-border medical work. The hospital operates the first drone-powered smart logistics delivery system at a Chinese dental hospital, paired with intelligent logistics robots to create closed-loop transport for pharmaceuticals, dental supplies and clinical instruments, thus boosting operational efficiency.

AI improves care for Chinese and foreign patients alike. AI triage tools and self-service oral screening devices help patients get initial dental assessments in a timely fashion. Intelligent analysis of dental scans, AI-assisted treatment planning and dental implant robots are now part of routine clinical work.

"So far, more than 50 ASEAN patients have received treatment with our AI implant robot. This domestically developed smart medical device has been adopted by multiple facilities in Vietnam and Singapore," Kuang said.

For cleft lip and palate rehabilitation, the hospital has built an AI large language model-powered speech assessment platform for home therapy. The service has helped more than 2,000 users, letting patients in remote areas complete rehabilitation at home and cut down on repeated travel for treatment.

Language gaps and travel restrictions have long slowed cross-border learning for ASEAN dentists. The hospital has developed a proprietary multilingual AI simultaneous interpretation system for stomatology that supports real-time translation across more than 10 Southeast Asian languages, removing language barriers in seminars and technical training.

The hospital has also built an AI-plus-virtual reality simulation training ecosystem with full sets of clinical dental courses. ASEAN practitioners can complete immersive simulated training without traveling abroad by using VR headsets.

Drawing on resources from an EU-affiliated higher education partnership project, the hospital also runs an online shared teaching platform. ASEAN dentists can take remote courses or travel to the hospital for on-site learning, thus contributing practical dental talent to the region.

Kuang said the RCEP creates favorable institutional conditions for cross-border digital health collaboration, and the hospital intends to capitalize on those gains to deepen industry-university research ties.

It will upgrade the China-ASEAN stomatology forum by adding sessions on research commercialization and dental industry development alongside classic academic exchanges. A matching exhibition platform for dental devices will turn the forum into a tangible vehicle for practical cooperation under the RCEP.

The hospital also plans to align universities, research institutes, enterprises and ASEAN partners for joint research on high-prevalence oral diseases in Southeast Asia. Teams will co-develop products tailored to local markets, linking research, translation and commercial rollout. The goal is to bring Chinese smart dental technology, products and standards to ASEAN communities.

"All cooperation ultimately comes back to people. Health is the bond, and the benefits should reach ordinary citizens across all nations," Kuang said.

zhangli@chinadaily.com.cn