Mobile Health Assessment of Traumatic Dental Injuries Using Smartphone-Acquired Photographs: A Multicenter Diagnostic Accuracy Study.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) has an emerging potential for remote assessment of traumatic dental injuries (TDI) and support of emergency care. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of TDI detection from smartphone-acquired photographs. Methods: The upper and lower anterior teeth of 153 individuals aged ≥ 6 years were photographed using a smartphone camera app. The photos of 148 eligible participants were reviewed independently by a dental specialist, two general dentists, and two dental therapists, using predetermined TDI classification and criteria. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and inter-rater reliability were estimated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the photographic method relative to the reference standard established by the dental specialist. Results: Of the 1,870 teeth screened, one-third showed TDI; and one-seventh of the participants had primary or mixed dentitions. Compared between the specialist's reference standard and four dental professionals' reviews, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for TDI versus non-TDI were 59-95% and 47-93%, respectively, with better performance for urgent types of TDI (78-89% and 99-100%, separately). The diagnostic consistency was also better for the primary/mixed dentitions than the permanent dentition. Conclusion: This study suggested a valid mHealth practice for remote assessment of TDI. A better diagnostic performance in the detection of urgent types of TDI and examination of the primary/mixed dentition was also reported. Future directions include professional development activities involving dental photography and photographic assessment, incorporation of a machine learning technology to aid photographic reviews, and randomized controlled trials in multiple clinical settings.

The feasibility of a digital health approach to facilitate remote dental screening among preschool children during COVID-19 and social restrictions.

BACKGROUND: Tele-dentistry can be useful to facilitate screening of children, especially those living in rural and remote communities, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: This study evaluated the feasibility of tele-dental screening for the identification of early childhood caries (ECC) in preschoolers using an app operated by their parents with remote review by oral-health therapists. DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was a sub-project nested in ORIGINS Project, a longitudinal birth cohort study in Western Australia. Initially, children were visually examined by a paediatric dentist (gold standard). Subsequently, dental photographs were taken by parents using a smartphone camera. Two trained oral health professionals asynchronously evaluated dental photographs. The presence of dental caries was recorded as per the International Caries Detection and Assessment System-II classification. The diagnostic accuracy and reliability of the tele-dental screening and the gold standard dental examinations were then compared. RESULTS: Forty-two children aged <4 years were enrolled in the study. Twenty-five per cent of examined children had dental caries (mean dmfs = 0.7). A total of 370 dental photographs were obtained. Parents were able to take good-quality photographs, with 90% of photographs rated as good to fair quality. Tele-dental screening demonstrated high specificity (>=95.5%) for both reviewers compared to the gold standard dental examination. However, the sensitivity scores for the two reviewers varied, ranging from 44% to 88.4%. CONCLUSION: Tele-dental screening for ECC was shown to be a feasible approach following a brief training for primary caregivers. This approach can offer a potential low-cost and sustainable alternative for visual dental examinations for young children, particularly in times of COVID-19-related restrictions.

Sleep-disordered breathing in patients with stroke-induced dysphagia.

This study examined the nature and characteristics of sleep-disordered breathing, including obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea, in patients with post-stroke dysphagia, to determine the demographic, anthropometric and clinical variables that were associated with sleep-disordered breathing. Thirty-nine patients diagnosed with acute stroke (28 males and 11 females with a mean age of 72.3 ± 10.0 years) underwent overnight polysomnography (within 3.9 ± 1.6 days after admission). Sleep-disordered breathing was described by the apnea-hypopnea index and its obstructive and central components by the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index and central apnea-hypopnea index, respectively. Severity of dysphagia was assessed using the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability score. Severity of stroke and functional dependence were assessed by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale and the modified Barthel index, respectively. Most of the cohort (87%) had moderate-to-severe dysphagia (Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability of 143.2 ± 19.9). Sleep-disordered breathing (apnea-hypopnea index ≥ 5 events/hr) was present in 38 participants (97%) with a mean apnea-hypopnea index of 37.5 ± 24.4 events/hr. Sleep-disordered breathing was predominantly obstructive in nature, with a mean obstructive apnea-hypopnea index and central apnea-hypopnea index of 19.6 ± 15.7 and 11.4 ± 17.6 events/hr, respectively. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that the apnea-hypopnea index was associated with sex (p = .0001), body mass index (p = .029) and the modified Barthel index (p = .006); the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index was associated with the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (p = .006), sex (p = .004) and body mass index (p = .015) and had a nonlinear relationship with the modified Barthel index (p = .019); and the central apnea-hypopnea index was associated with sex (p = .027) and the modified Barthel index (p = .019). The present study showed that dysphagia severity was associated with obstructive sleep apnea severity and this association was independent of sex, modified Barthel index and body mass index. However, stroke-induced dysphagia was not associated with central sleep apnea or overall sleep-disordered breathing.

Barriers and facilitators to diabetic retinopathy screening within Australian primary care.

BACKGROUND: Despite recent incentives through Medicare (Australia's universal health insurance scheme) to increase retinal screening rates in primary care, comprehensive diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening has not been reached in Australia. The current study aimed to identify key factors affecting the delivery of diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening in Australian general practices. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative study involving in-depth interviews was carried out from November 2019 to March 2020. Using purposive snowballing sampling, 15 general practitioners (GPs) were recruited from urban and rural general practices in New South Wales and Western Australia. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from participants. All interviews were conducted over the phone by one facilitator, and each interview lasted up to 45 min. The Socio-Ecological Model was used to inform the content of the interview topic guides and subsequent data analysis. Recorded data were transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was conducted to identify and classify recurrent themes. RESULTS: Of 15 GPs interviewed, 13 were male doctors, and the mean age was 54.7 ± 15.5 years. Seven participants were practising in urban areas, while eight were practising in regional or remote areas. All participants had access to a direct ophthalmoscope, but none owned retinal cameras. None of the participants reported performing DR screening. Only three participants were aware of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items 12,325 and 12,326 that allow GPs to bill for retinal screening. Seven themes, a combination of facilitators and barriers, emerged from interviews with the GPs. Despite the strong belief in their role in managing chronic diseases, barriers such as costs of retinal cameras, time constraints, lack of skills to make DR diagnosis, and unawareness of Medicare incentives for non-mydriatic retinal photography made it difficult to conduct DR screening in general practice. However, several enabling strategies to deliver DR screening within primary care include increasing GPs' access to continuing professional development, subsidising the cost of retinal cameras, and the need for a champion ace to take the responsibility of retinal photography. CONCLUSION: This study identified essential areas at the system level that require addressing to promote the broader implementation of DR screening, in particular, a nationwide awareness campaign to maximise the use of MBS items, improve GPs' competency, and subsidise costs of the retinal cameras for small and rural general practices.

Teledentistry as a novel pathway to improve dental health in school children: a research protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Despite great improvement in child oral health, some children subgroups still suffer from higher levels of dental caries. Geographic and socioeconomic barriers and the lack of access to dental care services are among common reasons for poor oral health in children. Historically in Australia, oral health therapists or dental therapists have been responsible for providing dental care for school children through the School Dental Services (SDS). The current SDS has been unable to provide sustainable dental care to all school children due to a reduction in workforce participation and limited resources. We propose a paradigm shift in the current service through the introduction of user-friendly technology to provide a foundation for sustainable dental care for school children. METHODS/DESIGN: We describe an ongoing parallel, two-armed, non-inferiority randomised controlled trial that compares routine and teledental pathway of dental care in children aged 4-15 years (n = 250). Participating schools in Western Australia will be randomly assigned to the control or teledental group, approximately three schools in each group with a maximum of 45 children in each school. All participants will first receive a standard dental examination to identify those who require urgent referrals and then their teeth will be photographed using a smartphone camera. At the baseline, children in the control group will receive screening results and advice on the pathway of dental care based on the visual dental screening while children in the teledental group will receive screening results based on the assessment of dental images. At 9 months follow-up, all participants will undergo a final visual dental screening. The primary outcomes include decay experience and proportion of children become caries active. The secondary outcomes include the diagnostic performance of photographic dental assessment and costs comparison of two pathways of dental care. DISCUSSION: The current project seeks to take advantage of mobile technology to acquire dental images from a child's mouth at school settings and forwarding images electronically to an offsite dental practitioner to assess and prepare dental recommendations remotely. Such an approach will help to prioritise high-risk children and provide them with a quick treatment pathway and avoid unnecessary referrals or travel. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12619001233112. Registered 06 September 2019.

Comparing the outcomes of gold-standard dental examinations with photographic screening by mid-level dental providers.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the detectability of the intra-oral photographic method in comparison to the baseline, comprehensive dental examination (CDE), in children when performed by different levels of dental practitioners. MATERIALS AND METHODS: As part of a quality assurance program, intra-oral photographs were obtained from 77 patients (2-18 years) as part of a CDE before undertaking dental treatment under general anaesthesia. A DSLR camera was utilised to acquire images which were subsequently uploaded to a cloud-based server. The baseline for each participant was established during the CDE, utilising both visual and radiographic examination, which was then compared to the assessment made by a mid-level dental practitioners (MLDP). The evaluation was based on utilising an odontogram where the teeth were charted either as decayed or filled. RESULTS: Specificity (95%) was higher than sensitivity (61.5%) when comparing the photographic assessment with the benchmark CDE assessment. The inter-rater reliability between the two methods of assessment was substantial, with a kappa score of 0.62. The photographic assessment method underestimated the decayed and filled teeth, as observed by the caries experience (dft/DFT scores) (CDE = 7.01 vs. photographic assessment = 5.22). There were lower levels of diagnostic detection in the posterior teeth as compared to the anterior teeth assessments. CONCLUSIONS: Although the CDE is still considered to be the gold-standard, this study found that the photographic caries assessment by MLDP produced an acceptable diagnostic level of detection particularly for the anterior teeth. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The photographic method could offer a potential cost-saving and user-friendly screening.

Comparison of a Smartphone-Based Photographic Method with Face-to-Face Caries Assessment: A Mobile Teledentistry Model.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of a mobile teledentistry approach using a smartphone camera for remote screening of dental caries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An image acquisition Android App was created to facilitate the acquisition and transmission of dental images to a store-and-forward based telemedicine server. One hundred participants who were attending routine checkups at dental clinics were enrolled in 2014. Following a face-to-face oral screening by a screener (dentist), images of patients' teeth were obtained using a smartphone camera. These images, along with patient information, were then transmitted from the Android App to the server through the Internet for later independent assessment by two charters (off-site dentists). The assessments of these charters were then compared to the benchmark face-to-face caries assessment. RESULTS: Sensitivity values for the photographic method when compared to the benchmark face-to-face caries assessment were moderate, and ranged from 60% to 63%. Weighted kappa (K) as a measure of intragrader agreement for the photographic assessment was estimated as almost perfect (K = 0.84). The intergrader agreement for the photographic method compared to the face-to-face caries assessment ranged from moderate to substantial (K = 0.54-0.66). CONCLUSIONS: Despite some limitations, the mobile teledentistry approach has shown the potential to detect occlusal caries from photographs taken by a smartphone camera with an acceptable diagnostic performance compared to traditional face-to-face screening. This study suggests that telemedicine and cellular phone technology can be combined to create an inexpensive and reliable screening tool.

Challenges in the uptake of telemedicine in dentistry.

With the availability of oral care services very unevenly distributed in rural or remote areas, underserved people seek oral care from non-dental care providers. Against this backdrop, and coupled with the decreasing cost of and innovations in technology, there is a growing interest in the adoption of telemedicine services. Regardless of the lack of good-quality evidence supporting the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine, evidence already indicates that telemedicine, even with extra costs, helps in reducing the inequalities in the provision of primary health care. Telemedicine has the potential to overcome geographical barriers and contribute to closing the rural-urban healthcare gap in Australia and many other regions. Although research examining different teledentistry applications has found that this technology can be successfully integrated into different settings, there is little active teledentistry practice in Australia. The integration of telemedicine into the mainstream oral health system is a complex and collaborative process in which numerous factors at individual, infrastructure and organisational levels are involved. Addressing the barriers that delay the implementation of a teledentistry service can provide valuable insights into its lack of acceptance and establish an evidence base that can help to inform future decisions about the benefits of teledentistry.

Diagnostic accuracy of teledentistry in the detection of dental caries: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to systematically review the literature for research evidence for the diagnostic accuracy of teledentistry in the detection of dental caries. METHODS: Two reviewers searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus databases through January 2016 for comparative studies that examined the diagnostic accuracy of teledentistry for detecting caries compared with nontelemedicine alternatives. Retrieved studies were screened for inclusion criteria and were evaluated for methodological quality using the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS-2) checklist. RESULTS: Of 287 citations identified, 10 met the preset inclusion criteria. Sensitivity and specificity were the most common measures of diagnostic accuracy used in 10 studies. Despite very limited published evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of teledentistry, the reviewed teledentistry studies showed comparable diagnostic performance compared with nontelemedicine alternatives. The average methodological quality of the selected articles is low, since none of the selected studies satisfied all 4 QUADAS-2 domains. Only 6 articles were scored as having a low risk of bias in 3 of 4 of QUADAS-2 domains. All the selected studies had low concerns regarding applicability. The main shortcoming was that in most of the selected studies, the methodology, in particular patient selection and index tests, was insufficiently described. CONCLUSIONS: Teledentistry has an acceptable diagnostic performance in the detection of dental caries. However, due to the heterogeneity of the reviewed studies, the generalization of results may be difficult. Further well-designed research to investigate the effectiveness of the teledentistry approach to caries detection is needed to determine the capability of this technology in epidemiologic oral surveys.

Participant Misrepresentation in Online Focus Groups: Red Flags and Proactive Measures.

Covid-19 public health measures prompted a significant increase in online research. This approach has several benefits over face-to-face data-collection methods, including lower cost and wider geographical reach of participants. Yet when the online data-collection instrument is a survey, there are also well-documented drawbacks of participant misrepresentation and related data-authenticity issues. However, the scholarly literature has not looked at participant misrepresentation in online focus-group empirical research. This case study communicates a concerning situation that arose during our research project: dishonest participant behavior threatened the integrity and validity of our data collected through online focus-group sessions as well as e-surveys. We describe the study context, initial red flags alerting us to the issue, subsequent investigations, and implications for research ethics, funding, and data quality. We conclude with a discussion of potential steps to safeguard future online focus-group research against similar issues.

A Deep Learning-Based System for the Assessment of Dental Caries Using Colour Dental Photographs.

D1ental caries remains the most common chronic disease in childhood, affecting almost half of all children globally. Dental care and examination of children living in remote and rural areas is an ongoing challenge that has been compounded by COVID. The development of a validated system with the capacity to screen large numbers of children with some degree of automation has the potential to facilitate remote dental screening at low costs. In this study, we aim to develop and validate a deep learning system for the assessment of dental caries using color dental photos. Three state-of-the-art deep learning networks namely VGG16, ResNet-50 and Inception-v3 were adopted in the context. A total of 1020 child dental photos were used to train and validate the system. We achieved an accuracy of 79% with precision and recall respectively 95% and 75% in classifying 'caries' versus 'sound' with inception-v3.

The accuracy of asynchronous tele-screening for detecting dental caries in patient-captured mobile photos: A pilot study.

Objectives: Unaided visual inspection is a primary dental screening technique. Given the uneven distribution of dental services and prolonged waiting periods, an alternative screening approach is required to increase access to dental care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of tele-screening for detecting dental caries using mobile intra-oral photos taken by participants. Methods: Dental care seekers attending Umm Al-Qura University Teaching Dental Hospital in 2022 were invited to participate in this study. The participants were initially examined by dental interns at the hospital under the supervision of faculty dentists (reference standard) before intra-oral photos were acquired by a trained sixth-year dental student using a Samsung S10 camera. Following an introduction to the photography guide, the same participants then took intra-oral photos of their teeth at home using their mobile devices, which were all uploaded to WhatsApp for later review. Two trained dental reviewers (sixth-year dental students) independently reviewed the intra-oral photos. Sensitivity, specificity, and Kappa scores were estimated to assess the performance of the tele-screening approach relative to the reference unaided dental examination. Results: Twenty-three participants, with a mean age of 30 ± 12 years, were enrolled. The mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) was 13.43 ± 5.48. Patient-delivered tele-screening demonstrated a sensitivity, specificity, and inter-rater reliability kappa of 94 %, 90 %, and 0.81, respectively, when compared to unaided dental examination. Dentist-delivered tele-screening approach demonstrated a sensitivity of 88-89 %, specificity of 88-91 %, and kappa score of 0.75-0.79 relative to unaided dental examination. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the tele-screening approach based on reviewing intra-oral photos taken by participants can be a valid and reliable alternative to unaided dental examination. This is important for ensuring sustainable access to dental care.

Experience of primary caregivers in utilising an mHealth application for remote dental screening in preschool children.

Objectives This study aimed to address the acceptance of mHealth applications for a dental screening app that facilitates patient information entry and captures dental photos remotely to assist in caries diagnosis in preschool children in Australia. Methods All participants were recruited through the ORIGINS Project, a community-based interventional birth cohort study in Western Australia. Forty-two primary caregivers, who were the users of a teledental screening app, were given a questionnaire with 17 questions; these were constructed based on the theme of the Technology Acceptance Model: perceived ease of use (PE), perceived usefulness (PU), behavioural intention to adopt (BI), anxiety (ANX), attitude toward a behaviour (ATB), and self-efficacy (SE). Cronbach's alpha was estimated to determine internal consistency. Path analysis was employed to quantify the relationship between each theme. Results The mean values for most themes indicated high satisfaction with the intervention among caregivers (scores out of 5): PE (4.54 ± 0.55), PU (4.65 ± 0.49), BI (4.40 ± 0.65), ATB (4.23 ± 0.70), SE (4.36 ± 0.64). Results indicated high consistency in response in the PE, PU, ATB, and SE (α = 0.74-0.84) and moderate consistency was observed in ANX and BI (α = 0.50-0.62). The overall intention of using the dental screening app was significantly related to both PU and ATB (P Conclusion The perceived usefulness and attitude toward behaviours influenced the overall behavioural intention of the participants to use the telehealth model in dental screening. Recognising these relationships indicates community readiness for implementing the telehealth application in the dental program and enables identification of areas for improving its diffusion.

Technology in aged care: a qualitative survey of academic, research, and technology industry professionals.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The study's aim was two-fold: (1) to explore the experiences and perceptions of industry, academic, and research professionals concerning technologies used within aged care; and (2) to identify needs-led priorities for the future development and application of technologies within aged care. BACKGROUND: Global population ageing requires a recalibration of aged care policies, systems, and services to promote and support healthy ageing. It is expected that technology will play an important role in this regard. This study qualitatively assessed the landscape of technology use in aged care from the perspective of industry, academic, and research professionals. DESIGN: A purposefully designed cross-sectional survey collecting experiences, perspectives, and barriers about technology through open responses. METHODS: Using convenience sampling, thirty-five participants completed an online survey between April and October 2020. A descriptive qualitative content analysis approach was used to analyse the written responses. Reporting of findings followed the EQUATOR's Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist. RESULTS: Four themes were identified that characterised the use of technologies within aged care: (1) User Perceptions and Attitudes: wariness and reluctance to technology; (2) Systemic Issues within Aged Care: Under-resourced with opportunities for innovation; (3) Technology-Related Barriers: Equity, costs, privacy, integration, and interoperability and (4) Research Priorities: Co-design and integration of technology. CONCLUSIONS: The existing technology does not meet the needs of older people, aged care personnel and the system in general, which prevents its successful implementation and uptake.

Deep learning for automated detection and numbering of permanent teeth on panoramic images.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate an automated detection system to detect and classify permanent teeth on orthopantomogram (OPG) images using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). METHODS: In total, 591 digital OPGs were collected from patients older than 18 years. Three qualified dentists performed individual teeth labelling on images to generate the ground truth annotations. A three-step procedure, relying upon CNNs, was proposed for automated detection and classification of teeth. Firstly, U-Net, a type of CNN, performed preliminary segmentation of tooth regions or detecting regions of interest (ROIs) on panoramic images. Secondly, the Faster R-CNN, an advanced object detection architecture, identified each tooth within the ROI determined by the U-Net. Thirdly, VGG-16 architecture classified each tooth into 32 categories, and a tooth number was assigned. A total of 17,135 teeth cropped from 591 radiographs were used to train and validate the tooth detection and tooth numbering modules. 90% of OPG images were used for training, and the remaining 10% were used for validation. 10-folds cross-validation was performed for measuring the performance. The intersection over union (IoU), F1 score, precision, and recall (i.e. sensitivity) were used as metrics to evaluate the performance of resultant CNNs. RESULTS: The ROI detection module had an IoU of 0.70. The tooth detection module achieved a recall of 0.99 and a precision of 0.99. The tooth numbering module had a recall, precision and F1 score of 0.98. CONCLUSION: The resultant automated method achieved high performance for automated tooth detection and numbering from OPG images. Deep learning can be helpful in the automatic filing of dental charts in general dentistry and forensic medicine.

Evaluation of a deep learning system for automatic detection of proximal surface dental caries on bitewing radiographs.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate a deep learning (DL) system using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automatic detection of caries on bitewing radiographs. STUDY DESIGN: In total, 2468 bitewings were labeled by 3 dentists to create the reference standard. Of these images, 1257 had caries and 1211 were sound. The Faster region-based CNN was applied to detect the regions of interest (ROIs) with potential lesions. A total of 13,246 ROIs were generated from all 'sound' images, and 50% of 'caries' images (selected randomly) were used to train the ROI detection module. The remaining 50% of 'caries' images were used to validate the ROI detection module. Caries detection was then performed using Inception-ResNet-v2. A set of 3297 'caries' and 5321 'sound' ROIs cropped from the 2468 images was used to train and validate the caries detection module. Data sets were randomly divided into training (90%) and validation (10%) data sets. Recall, precision, specificity, accuracy, and F1 score were used as metrics to assess performance. RESULTS: The caries detection module achieved recall, precision, specificity, accuracy, and F1 scores of 0.89, 0.86, 0.86, 0.87, and 0.87, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed DL system demonstrated promising performance for detecting proximal surface caries on bitewings.

Consumer and Provider Perspectives on Technologies Used Within Aged Care: An Australian Qualitative Needs Assessment Survey.

We undertook a qualitative assessment of aged care technology needs from the perspective of consumers and providers using a cross-sectional survey that assumed a largely open-response format. We recruited a convenience sample of individuals aged 18 years or older, lived in Australia, and self-identified as either an older adult (n = 133), an informal caregiver of an older adult (n = 27), and/or clinician, healthcare practitioner, and aged care provider (n = 148). Survey responses were analyzed using a descriptive qualitative content analysis approach to interpret meaning from written survey responses. We identified seven themes reporting that technologies used in aged care do not appear to be meeting end-user needs. Supporting the Technology Acceptance Model, consumers and providers perceive usefulness of the technology and its actual ease of use as drivers of acceptance toward gerontechnology. Ten recommendations are proposed to support technology use and the quality of aged care.

Mobile photographic screening for dental caries in children: Diagnostic performance compared to unaided visual dental examination.

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to compare the use of intraoral photographs with the unaided visual dental examination as a means of dental caries detection in children. METHODS: Children aged 4- to 14-year-olds were visually examined at their schools. Following dental examinations, children had five photographs of their teeth taken using a smartphone camera. Four dental reviewers, who are different from those who visually examined the children, assessed intraoral photographs for dental caries. Sensitivity, specificity, and inter-rater reliability agreement were estimated to assess the diagnostic performance of the photographic method relative to the benchmark visual dental assessments. Caries prevalence was measured using dft/DFT (decayed and filled teeth) index. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-eight children (67 male and 71 female) were enrolled and had a mean age of 7.8 ± 2.1 years. The caries prevalence (dft/DFT > 0) using photographic dental assessments ranged from 30 percent to 39 percent but was not significantly different from the prevalence (42 percent) estimated with the visual dental examination (P ≥ 0.07). The sensitivity and specificity of the photographic method for detection of dental caries compared to visual dental assessments were 58-80 percent and 99.7-99.9 percent, respectively. The sensitivity for the photographic assessments was high in the primary dentition (63-82 percent) and children ≤7-year-olds (67-78 percent). The inter-rater reliability for the photographic assessment versus the benchmark ranged from substantial to almost perfect agreement (Kappa = 0.72-0.87). CONCLUSIONS: The photographic approach to dental screening, used within the framework of its limitations, yielded an acceptable diagnostic level of caries detection, particularly in younger children with primary dentition.

Diet, Nutrition, and Oral Health: What Influences Mother's Decisions on What to Feed Their Young Children?

The purpose of this study was to learn about mothers' experiences with food choices for their pre-school children in underprivileged communities in Greater Western Sydney (GWS). A total of 20 mother-child dyads living in GWS were recruited to a qualitative study from an ongoing birth cohort study. Participants' houses were visited for semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically. The interviews yielded five main themes: (i) food choices, nutrition, and health; (ii) accessibility and availability of foods (iii) buying time for parents; (iv) child's age and their preference on food choices; (v) conditioning certain behaviours by family and cultural factors. Nutrition literacy, child's preferences, unhealthy food intake by family members, child's demand, advertising and availability of harmful foods, and time constraints were all mentioned as hurdles to mothers making appropriate meal choices for their children. However, some identified facilitators were promoting parents' knowledge, increasing access to health educational materials, upskilling mothers to providing healthier alternatives, regulating the marketing of unhealth foods. Although, the present study identified critical factors that influence mothers' food choices for their young children, making healthy food choices is a complex practice as it is shaped by individual, social and environmental influences.

Cost savings from a teledentistry model for school dental screening: an Australian health system perspective.

Objective The aim of the present study was to compare the costs of teledentistry and traditional dental screening approaches in Australian school children. Methods A cost-minimisation analysis was performed from the perspective of the oral health system, comparing the cost of dental screening in school children using a traditional visual examination approach with the cost of mid-level dental practitioners (MLDPs), such as dental therapists, screening the same cohort of children remotely using teledentistry. A model was developed to simulate the costs (over a 12-month period) of the two models of dental screening for all school children (2.7million children) aged 5-14 years across all Australian states and territories. The fixed costs and the variable costs, including staff salary, travel and accommodation costs, and cost of supply were calculated. All costs are given in Australian dollars. Results The total estimated cost of the teledentistry model was $50million. The fixed cost of teledentistry was $1million and that of staff salaries (tele-assistants, charters and their supervisors, as well as information technology support was estimated to be $49million. The estimated staff salary saved with the teledentistry model was $56million, and the estimated travel allowance and supply expenses avoided were $16million and $14million respectively; an annual reduction of $85million in total. Conclusions The present study shows that the teledentistry model of dental screening can minimise costs. The estimated savings were due primarily to the low salaries of dental therapists and the avoidance of travel and accommodation costs. Such savings could be redistributed to improve infrastructure and oral health services in rural or other underserved areas. What is known about the topic? Caries is a preventable disease, which, if it remains untreated, can cause significant morbidity requiring costly treatment. Regular dental screening and oral health education have the great potential to improve oral health and save significant resources. The use of role substitution, such as using MLDPs to provide oral care has been well acknowledged worldwide because of their ability to provide safe and effective care. The teledentistry approach for dental screening offers a comparable diagnostic performance to the traditional visual approach. What does this paper add? The results of the present study suggest that teledentistry is a practical and economically viable approach for mass dental screening not only for isolated communities, but also for underserved urban communities. The costs of the teledentistry model were substantially lower than the costs associated with a conventional, face-to-face approach to dental screening in both remote and urban areas. The primary driver of net savings is the low salary of MLDPs and avoidance of travel and overnight accommodation by MLDPs. What are the implications for practitioners? The use of lower-cost MLDPs and a teledentistry model for dental screening has the potential to save significant economic and human resources that can be redirected to improve infrastructure and oral care services in underserved regions. In the absence of evidence of the economic usefulness of teledentistry, studies such as the present one can increase the acceptance of this technology among dental care providers and guide future decisions on whether or not to implement teledentistry services.