Telemedicine in the diagnosis and management of temporomandibular disorders: A systematic review conducted according to PRISMA guidelines and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

BACKGROUND

Telemedicine (T-Med) has always been an important tool in the arsenal of clinicians worldwide. This technique has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult for some people to access traditional dental care. The current review aimed to analyse the usage of telemedicine in the diagnosis and management of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and its impact on general health.

METHODS

An extensive search of databases was conducted using keywords such as, "telemedicine," "teledentistry," "TMJ" and "temporomandibular disorders," resulting in a total of 482 papers to be available from which eligible studies were selected. The Risk of Bias in Observational Studies of Exposures (ROBINS-E) tool was used to evaluate methodological quality of included studies.

RESULTS

Two studies were selected which fulfilled the eligibility criteria. All assessed studies indicated varying degrees of positive outcomes for patients who were intervened for TMDs using T-Med.

CONCLUSION

T-Med shows promising results for the diagnosis and management of TMDs, especially since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter. Long-term clinical trials with larger samples are needed to further ascertain validity in this regard.