Teledentistry from research to practice: a tale of nineteen countries

Maha El Tantawi¹, Walter Yu Hang Lam², Nicolas Giraudeau³, Jorma I Virtanen⁴, Cleopatra Matanhire⁵, Timothy Chifamba⁵, Wael Sabbah⁶, Noha Gomaa⁷, Sadeq Ali Al-Maweri⁸, Sergio E Uribe^{9

10

11}, Simin Z Mohebbi¹², Noren Hasmun¹³, Guangzhao Guan¹³, Ajith Polonowita¹³, Sadika Begum Khan¹⁴, Massimo Pisano¹⁵, Passent Ellakany¹⁶, Marwa Mohamed Baraka¹, Abdalmawla Alhussin Ali¹⁷, José Eduardo Orellana Centeno¹⁸, Verica Pavlic¹⁹, Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan²⁰

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
² Prosthodontics, Restorative Dental Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ CEPEL, CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
⁴ Institute of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁵ Department of Oral Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁶ Centre for Host Microbiome Interactions, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁸ Department of Pre-Clinical Oral Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
⁹ Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
¹⁰ School of Dentistry, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
¹¹ Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence, Headquarters at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia.
¹² Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, and Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
¹³ Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
¹⁴ Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁵ Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry "Scuola Medica Salernitana", University of Salerno, Baronissi, Italy.
¹⁶ Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ Orthodontics Department, Dental Faculty, Sirte University, Sirte, Libya.
¹⁸ Faculty of Dentistry, Public Health Research Institute, University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, México.
¹⁹ Department of Periodontology and Oral Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
²⁰ Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

PMID: 37397348
PMCID: PMC10311964
DOI: 10.3389/froh.2023.1188557

Review

Teledentistry from research to practice: a tale of nineteen countries

Maha El Tantawi et al. Front Oral Health. 2023.

. 2023 Jun 16:4:1188557.

doi: 10.3389/froh.2023.1188557. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
² Prosthodontics, Restorative Dental Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ CEPEL, CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
⁴ Institute of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁵ Department of Oral Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁶ Centre for Host Microbiome Interactions, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁸ Department of Pre-Clinical Oral Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
⁹ Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
¹⁰ School of Dentistry, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
¹¹ Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence, Headquarters at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia.
¹² Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, and Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
¹³ Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
¹⁴ Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁵ Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry "Scuola Medica Salernitana", University of Salerno, Baronissi, Italy.
¹⁶ Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ Orthodontics Department, Dental Faculty, Sirte University, Sirte, Libya.
¹⁸ Faculty of Dentistry, Public Health Research Institute, University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, México.
¹⁹ Department of Periodontology and Oral Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
²⁰ Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

PMID: 37397348
PMCID: PMC10311964
DOI: 10.3389/froh.2023.1188557

Abstract

Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated teledentistry research with great interest reflected in the increasing number of publications. In many countries, teledentistry programs were established although not much is known about the extent of incorporating teledentistry into practice and healthcare systems. This study aimed to report on policies and strategies related to teledentistry practice as well as barriers and facilitators for this implementation in 19 countries.

Methods: Data were presented per country about information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, income level, policies for health information system (HIS), eHealth and telemedicine. Researchers were selected based on their previous publications in teledentistry and were invited to report on the situation in their respective countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Hong Kong SAR, Iran, Italy, Libya, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe.

Results: Ten (52.6%) countries were high income, 11 (57.9%) had eHealth policies, 7 (36.8%) had HIS policies and 5 (26.3%) had telehealth policies. Six (31.6%) countries had policies or strategies for teledentistry and no teledentistry programs were reported in two countries. Teledentistry programs were incorporated into the healthcare systems at national (n = 5), intermediate (provincial) (n = 4) and local (n = 8) levels. These programs were established in three countries, piloted in 5 countries and informal in 9 countries.

Conclusion: Despite the growth in teledentistry research during the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of teledentistry in daily clinical practice is still limited in most countries. Few countries have instituted teledentistry programs at national level. Laws, funding schemes and training are needed to support the incorporation of teledentistry into healthcare systems to institutionalize the practice of teledentistry. Mapping teledentistry practices in other countries and extending services to under-covered populations increases the benefit of teledentistry.

Keywords: COVID-19; global oral health; healthcare system; oral health policies; teledentistry.

© 2023 El Tantawi, Lam, Giraudeau, Virtanen, Matanhire, Chifamba, Sabbah, Gomaa, Al-Maweri, Uribe, Mohebbi, Hasmun, Guan, Polonowita, Khan, Pisano, Ellakany, Baraka, Ali, Orellana Centeno, Pavlic and Folayan.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

1. World Health Organization. Mobile technologies for oral health: an implementation guide. Geneva (2021). Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240035225 (Cited March 14, 2023).
1. World Health Organization. Global strategy on digital health 2020–2025 (2021). Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/344249 (Cited March 14, 2023).
1. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Fahy N, Williams GA. Use of digital health tools in Europe: before, during and after COVID-19 (2021). Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/345091 (Cited March 14, 2023). - PubMed
1. World Health Organization. Global diffusion of eHealth: making universal health coverage achievable: report of the third global survey on eHealth. Geneva. (2016) Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/252529 (Cited March 14, 2023).
1. Eysenbach G. What is e-health? J Med Internet Res. (2001) 3(2):1–5. 10.2196/jmir.3.1.e1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Teledentistry from research to practice: a tale of nineteen countries

Affiliations

Teledentistry from research to practice: a tale of nineteen countries

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous