Priyank Harsh, Verma Ankita, Zama Khan Danish Uz, Prakash Rai Narendra, Kalburgi Veena, Singh Shweta
Department of Conservative, Endodontics, and Aesthetic Dentistry, Dental College, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, IND.
Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Hazaribagh College of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Ranchi, IND.
Cureus. 2023 Jul 25;15(7):e42414. doi: 10.7759/cureus.42414. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Dental caries is a common dental health problem affecting all age groups across the globe. Accurate detection and assessment of dental caries are crucial for effective treatment and preventive measures. Teledentistry, which involves remote dental assessment using digital technologies, has shown promise as a potential tool for caries screening. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to compare the dental caries scores obtained from clinical examinations and teledentistry assessments. Literature searches were conducted across databases such as PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, the Web of Science, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PsycINFO by using predefined search terms and inclusion criteria. Two reviewers separately extracted the data. The study designs, evaluation techniques, dentition types, mean scores, and follow-up times of the included studies were examined. The New Castle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the risk of bias. Review Manager (RevMan) (computer program) Version 5.4, The Cochrane Collaboration 2020, was used for the quantitative assessment of the data. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The findings revealed that teledentistry assessments (based on intraoral photographs captured using smartphones or intraoral cameras) demonstrated comparable accuracy to traditional clinical examinations in detecting and assessing dental caries. Among the four studies that were quantitatively analysed, no significant difference was noted at p = 0.09. A mean difference of 0.64 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.10; 1.38) suggested that clinical examination and teledentistry-based checkup were on par with each other for the detection of dental caries. The New Castle-Ottawa scale (NOS) grading indicated that the studies were of good quality. Teledentistry may be an effective approach for identifying and evaluating dental caries. However, further research is required to substantiate the findings observed in the present review.
龋齿是一个影响全球所有年龄组的常见口腔健康问题。准确检测和评估龋齿对于有效的治疗和预防措施至关重要。远程牙科涉及使用数字技术进行远程口腔评估，已显示出作为龋齿筛查潜在工具的前景。本系统评价和荟萃分析旨在比较临床检查和远程牙科评估获得的龋齿评分。通过使用预定义的搜索词和纳入标准，在PubMed、Embase、Cochrane图书馆、Scopus、科学网、护理及相关健康文献累积索引（CINAHL）和PsycINFO等数据库中进行文献检索。两名评价者分别提取数据。检查了纳入研究的研究设计、评估技术、牙列类型、平均评分和随访时间。使用纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表评估偏倚风险。使用Review Manager（RevMan）（计算机程序）5.4版（Cochrane协作网，2020年）对数据进行定量评估。八项研究符合纳入标准并被纳入评价。研究结果显示，远程牙科评估（基于使用智能手机或口腔内摄像头拍摄的口腔内照片）在检测和评估龋齿方面与传统临床检查具有可比的准确性。在四项进行定量分析的研究中，在p = 0.09时未发现显著差异。平均差异为0.64（95%置信区间（CI）：-0.10；1.38），表明临床检查和基于远程牙科的检查在检测龋齿方面相当。纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表（NOS）分级表明这些研究质量良好。远程牙科可能是识别和评估龋齿的有效方法。然而，需要进一步的研究来证实本评价中观察到的结果。
