Patients' experience with teledentistry compared to conventional follow-up visits in TMD clinic: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Teledentistry has been used in many dental specialties including temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD). Studies have measured patients' experience with teledentistry visits. Thus, this study aimed to assess the experience of patients seen using teledentistry compared to the traditional Orofacial Pain (OFP) and TMD visits. METHODS: An interventional study was conducted on 25 patients following up at the TMD clinic. The first follow-up occurred in person at the hospital clinic, where patients were given a survey at the end of the visit. A questionnaire included the following sections: socio-demographic information, patient experience of the visit, preferred online platforms, and patients' familiarity with these platforms. Patients had teledentistry visits via ZOOM Premium. After the visit, patients were given a second survey highlighting their experience towards the virtual visit and sections from the first survey. The study compares patients' satisfaction between conventional and virtual follow-up visits and compares patient experience differences based on their demographics. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Twenty-five patients completed both surveys. Over half of the participants were younger than 35 years old (64 %), and the majority were female (80 %). A total of 76 % had used virtual platforms prior to the study, and 74 % of them were convenient. Regarding patients' experience, only a borderline difference existed among the age groups of the study in effectively using teledentistry in the follow-ups compared to conventional visits (p = 0.05). Other results revealed no significant differences in patients' experience between virtual and conventional visits, indicating that high-quality dental care services can be provided remotely. Therefore, teledentistry could be integrated into the OFP and TMD Clinic flow without adversely affecting patient experience or quality of care. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Virtual follow-up visits could save patients' time, effort, and travel costs compared to conventional visits. Waiting lists are increasing in almost all dental; thus, integrating virtual follow-up visits would shorten these lists.

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.

Perceptions of Schoolteachers About Teledentistry Use in Makkah City.

OBJECTIVES: Teledentistry is a combination of communication technology and dentistry. Teledentistry is an alternative and useful way to remotely provide advisory, preventive, and emergency services in places with poor access to dental care. Few studies in Saudi have investigated the implementation of teledentistry at schools or assessed the perceptions of school personnel. This research aimed to evaluate teachers' perceptions about the use of teledentistry to examine schoolchildren in Makkah city. METHODS:  The study was conducted on 20 intermediate schools randomly selected from different regions of Makkah city using a multistage cluster sampling method. Two data collectors visited the schools to administer the study questionnaire, exploring teachers' perceptions of teledentistry. The questionnaire was adapted from a validated survey based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to compare the mean differences in participants' perceptions of teledentistry based on their demographics. RESULTS:  A total of 241 teachers completed the survey, 131 of whom were females (54.4%), and the mean age of participants was 42.5±7 years. Over 80% of participants taught ≥16 classes a week, and their experience ranged from less than a year to more than 31 years. Sixty participants (25%) knew teledentistry before watching the study video. The results revealed a significant difference between male and female teachers regarding perceptions of teledentistry. Female participants had higher scores in TAM dimensions than males. CONCLUSION:  This survey revealed a generally favorable attitude toward teledentistry utilization in schools. Including non-dental employees, such as teachers to provide such a service will assist in alleviating the shortage or unavailability of dentists at schools. This goes in line with the government's plans to promote telehealth as part of the Saudi Vision 2030.