Teledentistry: Is It the Future of Rural Dental Practice? A Cross-sectional Study.

AIM

To bridge the gap between urban and rural population, a vast number of researches are being carried out. Teledentistry is one of the technological advances in dentistry. It is defined by Cook in 1997 as "the practice of using video-conferencing technologies to diagnose and provide advice about treatment over a distance." This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of teledentistry among general dentists in and around Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A self-administered closed-ended questionnaire was designed. The questions were divided into three sections based on knowledge, attitude, and practice. Data collected from the questionnaire were entered in Microsoft Excel. Level of significance ( < 0.05) was set at 95% confidence interval and < 0.01 at 99% confidence interval was maintained, and the data were statistically analyzed.

RESULTS

The majority of the dentists had less knowledge about teledentistry. About 73% of the dentists believe that teledentistry can provide access of specialists to the rural population.

CONCLUSION

Of the dentists, 90% agree that teledentistry would be the major advancement in the future; however, there needs to be a specific module of operation and promotion of the module in future.