Predicting the employment of teledentistry in clinical practice by the Saudi dental community using a theoretical model.

INTRODUCTION

There are very few scholastic studies applying a theory-driven methodology to analyse the employment of teledentistry in clinical practice by the Saudi dental community. The objective of this research was to predict the employment of teledentistry in clinical practice by the Saudi dental community using the UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) model.

METHODS

A countrywide survey was executed from November 2022 to April 2023 among the dental community (pre-graduate students, graduates, post-graduate students, general dentists, and specialist dentists) involved in clinical practice. The survey employed the UTAUT model, which has four fundamental constructs: performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC). These constructs are known to impact the user's behavioural intention (BI). The four fundamental constructs were independent, and BI was the dependent variable. A Likert scale with five scores was used to record each variable. Descriptive statistics were used to describe all the constructs. Cronbach's alpha scores were used to measure the inner consistency of the Likert scale Simple linear regression and multiple linear regression were used to determine the correlation between all the constructs and the overall model's prediction. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was applied for analysis. The study had 80% power and an alpha threshold of .05.

RESULTS

The electronic survey was sent to 3000 participants, out of whom 2143 responded (response rate = 71.43%). PE (= 26%, < .01) was the most significant predictor of the Saudi dental community BI to employ teledentistry in clinical practice, followed by SI (= 24%, < .01), EE (= 19%, < .01) and FC (= 6%, < .01). With statistically significant predictive power, the UTAUT model explained 32% of the variance in the BI (= 0.32, < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

Each UTAUT construct and the entire model were significantly correlated with the employment of teledentistry in clinical practice by the Saudi dental community. PE had the most salient correlation, followed by SI, EE and FC. The participants have perceived the benefits of teledentistry, increasing the future likelihood of its utilisation. The Saudi government could consider the UTAUT constructs to promote teledentistry in tandem with Vision 2030.