Teledentistry—A New Concept to Solve Old Problems?

Dear Colleagues,

Globally, access to dental care has been a challenge in many countries. Financial barriers, dental manpower shortages, low awareness of oral health problems, and social determinants of health have all contributed to preventing people from receiving oral healthcare according to their needs and demands. Among the various methodologies that oral healthcare systems have applied to address these challenges, teledentistry is probably one of the newest. As pointed out by the American Dental Association, telehealth refers to a broad variety of technologies and tactics to deliver virtual medical health and education services. Teledentistry refers to the use of telehealth systems and methodologies in dentistry. It is not a specific service but a collection of means to enhance care and education delivery, where patients and providers are separated by distance. According to PubMed, within the last ten years, the annual number of publications on teledentistry has increased from almost none to almost 100. They have spanned all of the most-used information and communication technology modalities used in teledentistry, encompassing synchronous (live video), asynchronous (store and forward), remote patient monitoring (RPM), and mobile health (mHealth, or mOral Health as implemented by the WHO). Each of these modalities has its own strengths and challenges, but common for them all is that they provide a potential way forward to address some of the challenges we have struggled with in ensuring broad access to oral healthcare at the population level. In addition, teledentistry makes use of the almost universally available new technology, irrespective of the level of development of a particular nation.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight the latest and most-advanced examples of the application of teledentistry in whichever form by academics or health practitioners with the goal to promote the oral health of children and adults. We invite papers of a high academic standard and hope that the resulting collection of papers will reflect the wide variety of approaches used in teledentistry and their outcomes. 

Prof. Dr. Eli Schwarz
Dr. Richie Kohli
Guest Editors

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