Endodontic teleconsulting by Telehealth in Minas Gerais state, Brazil

Abstract

Background The Telehealth Brazil Program aims to improve the quality of Primary Health Care. Objective This cross-sectional study evaluated the Telehealth Brazil Networks Program’s dental teleconsulting in Minas Gerais state to elucidate the prevalent questions in endodontics. Method Secondary databases of offline dental teleconsulting from the Clinical Hospital and Medical School of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais from July 2015 to July 2017 were used. The variables analyzed were telehealth center, dental specialty and sub-area, and question type. The results were descriptively analyzed using the SPSS v.22.0 program. Results A total of 3,920 teleconsulting sessions were carried out. Endodontics was the field with the sixth-highest demand for questions (7.4%). The most prevalent endodontic questions were related to pulpal and periapical alterations (32.3%), being more related to diagnosis, followed by dental trauma (15.6%), endodontic emergencies (11.4%), and intracanal medication (7.3%), all of them with most questions related to clinical conduct. Conclusion The endodontic field questions were related to prevalent conditions in the daily activities of the primary health care professionals. It is crucial to continuously update the professionals through continuing education programs and the search for new knowledge to reinforce these competencies.