RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Telemedicine offers the possibility of provision of medical assistance to remote patients, and it has great potential in developing countries like Pakistan. Telemedicine solves logistical barriers, gives support to weak health systems, and helps to establish worldwide networks of healthcare professionals. Because of the high implementation costs, it is not possible yet to adopt telehealth systems for low- and middle-income nations. OBJECTIVE: To present a revision of region-based telemedical services in Pakistan. METHODS: Libraries such as PubMed (Medline), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Scopus (EMBASE), and Google Scholar were used for document search. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was adopted to conduct study quality. Many of the studies (n-8) included in the review were of high quality as assessed through the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Selected study characteristics were further analyzed based on different parameters such as publication year, sample size, study design, methods, motivation, and outcomes. RESULTS: Search produced 955 articles and 11 items were ultimately selected to conduct the review. These studies were further characterized as region-based telemedicine implementation. Out of 11, eight studies were conducted in the urban region and three studies were conducted in the rural areas of Pakistan. Many studies produced evidence on telehealth interventions by smartphone services such as SMS, apps, and web-based telemedicine. CONCLUSIONS: Telehealth interventions such as mHealth, eHealth, telemedicine, and telepharmacy in Pakistan were introduced starting from the last two decades. For obtaining the full benefits of these technologies, it is necessary that they but certainly need to become an integral part of Pakistan's current health infrastructure.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The study investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status and oral hygiene indicators in two schools located in Karachi, Pakistan. Oral hygiene indicators of public and private school children were compared. Private schools cater to children of relatively wealthier families compared to public school, whose attendees are generally children from less affluent backgrounds. The aim of this study was to determine whether socio-economic differences and inequalities have an impact on key oral hygiene indicators. METHODOLOGY: Primary data for this research was collected from community school visits conducted by the community dentistry department of Jinnah Medical and Dental and Medical College from January to September 2019. A convenience sample of the two schools, comprising 300 school students was selected. Data was collected using modified World Health Organization (WHO) oral health care forms. A pre-tested/customized dental hygiene form based on WHO forms was created by the research team. This form was used to measure DMFT/dmft scores and key oral hygiene indicators in the sample. RESULTS: A total sample size of 300 school-children affiliated with public and private schools was selected. The children's age ranged from 2 to 18 years. The mean DMFT scores of private and public-school children were not significantly different (private (1.82) vs. public (1.48)). (p = 0.257). The mean of carious teeth was 1.69 in private school children compared to 1.34 in government school children, whereas the mean values of other key indicators of oral hygiene including plaque deposition (p = 0.001), dental stains (p < 0.001) and bleeding gums/gingivitis (p < 0.001), were statistically significant between public and private school children. CONCLUSION: Oral health inequalities can be reduced with increased awareness and public funding to cater for the oral health needs of children of less affluent families. A dynamic and practical community-oriented program is fundamental for enhancing pediatric oral hygiene status, particularly for children attending government schools.
