Effectiveness of Telemedicine and Teledentistry after the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Telemedicine has become increasingly important worldwide over the last two decades. As a new field, it became known especially during the COVID-19 pandemic; this review presents fields of activity with special attention to opportunities and risks. Numerous areas of application offer the possibility for broad use in the medical and dental care landscape in diagnostics, therapy, rehabilitation, and decision advice across a spatial distance. Technical and semantic standards are required, and profiles and guidelines are increasingly defined and organized. Medical/dental consultations have been established in various regions around the world as a response to pandemic challenges and have made video and online emergency consultations possible. Telemedicine applications are already regularly used in medical/dental emergencies, regardless of the pandemic situation, both for transport by train and by plane, from which patients benefit. However, legal hurdles are often still unresolved, but infrastructure challenges both for provider, user hard- and software also complicate deployment. Problems are particularly prevalent in the absence of necessary internet coverage or among socially disadvantaged and vulnerable groups who cannot afford expensive equipment or do not know how to use the technology. Broad access must be enabled, and hardware and software interfaces and updates must be regularly checked and updated. Telemedicine might also improve access to and delivery of oral and general health care support both for rural and urban areas with low costs. Even though dentistry and many medical specialties are still performed clinically by means of practical/manual examination, there are areas of diagnostics where telemedicine applications can provide good support. Therefore, as conclusions, access, and delivery of telemedicine applications in dentistry and medicine should be expanded and improved to provide access to all population groups.

Did COVID-19 affect the loss to follow-up in long-term periodontal treatment: A retrospective study based on phone call survey

“…Both of these factors can be aided by teledentistry. In the last few years, teledentistry has evolved to such an extent that it is able to improve medical e ciency by reducing geographical barriers and the risk of infectious diseases [20,21]. Teledentistry is an excellent way to provide health education, patient followup management, etc.…”

Applications and Challenges of Telemedicine: Privacy-Preservation as a Case Study

“… 19 , 36 , 64 , 65 Remote dentistry can be a supplement to in-person dental care methods, especially in children, and ultimately lead to better management of the patients. 66 , 67 This technology can significantly help in places where healthcare facilities are limited and ensure safety during a pandemic while providing dental care to pediatric patients. 17 , 68 , 69 More research is needed on the safe and effective use of tele-dentistry in pediatric dentistry.…”

“…Telemedicine provides many advantages such as quick access to doctors at a lower cost, elimination of doctor and patient distances especially in remote and inaccessible areas, having the support of medical specialists, nursing, or psychological team at any time, using the patient information bank to check the process of disease improvement, ease of exchange of laboratory results and radiology images, reducing patient travel and stress which will lead to improved patient satisfaction, reducing the spread of contagious diseases and taking care of patients who cannot see a doctor, such as the elderly, pregnant people and people with underlying diseases. 2 , 19 , 20 , 67 , 80 - 82 …”

Effectiveness of telehealth in providing preventive oral health care: A pilot evaluation of patient, carer, and clinician experience

“…The use of telehealth in dentistry has expanded greatly in the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-w/COVID-19 pandemic, during which there were varying levels of restrictions on travel, general hesitance for non-essential physical contact, as well as restrictions on oral health services, owing to the high risk of virus transmission during aerosol-generating procedures [5][6][7]. In Australia, most public dental hospitals restricted services to urgent and emergency care during the pandemic's early phases.…”