Awareness regarding Teledentistry among Dental Professionals in Malaysia

Abstract

Objective. Teledentistry is considered to be a technological advancement in providing dental care to patients while effectively addressing the time management. Furthermore, the pandemic of COVID-19 has been here for quite long now, forcing the dental practitioners to ponder upon other methods of healthcare delivery apart from the traditional in-office direct clinical examination. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of dental professionals of Malaysia regarding teledentistry, which can act as a future pedestal for improvements in virtual dental practice and patient care. Materials and Methods. It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study involving an electronic survey of a sample of dental professionals of Malaysia. A prevalidated, 26-item, 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was used in assessing the perceptions of dental professionals regarding teledentistry in four domains: existing concerns about teledentistry use, the potential of teledentistry in improving practice, usefulness of teledentistry for dental practice, and its usefulness for patients. Statistical analyses involved descriptive statistics which included frequency distributions. Results. An overall response rate of 31.0% was observed with 310 dental practitioners participating in the survey. More than 60% of respondents agreed that teledentistry would benefit the dental practice through enhancement of communication with peers, guidance, and new patients’ referral. However, a substantial proportion of practitioners (70-80%) expressed uncertainty with accuracy of diagnosis, technical reliability, and privacy. Conclusion. Generally, the results of this study point towards the readiness of dental professionals of Malaysia to engage in teledentistry practice. However, further work needs to be done to assess the commercial feasibility of teledentistry, not only in Malaysia but also in other parts of the world. To start with, directed campaigns in reference to teledentistry are necessary to educate dentists and the public about the technology and its potential.

Development of dentists perceptions and knowledge of teledentistry

“…Based on the research method, twentyone articles were cross-sectional study design, 13,16,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] one article was cross-sectional with a mixed method design, 40…”

“…Based on the research method, twenty-one articles were cross-sectional study design, 13,16,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] one article was cross-sectional with a mixed method design, 40 and one article was a systematic review. 44 Based on the location of the study, five articles were conducted in India, 24,27,30,32,38 three articles in Pakistan, 16,31,34 three articles in Saudi Arabia, 28,29,36 two articles in Indonesia, 37,43 two articles in the United States, 25,40 and a few other articles in Australia, 26 Malaysia, 41,44 France, 39 Colombia, 13 and Brazil. 33 One article was conducted in two countries (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) 42 and one article was a global study.…”

Teledentistry in pediatric dentistry: Postgraduate dental students’ knowledge, practice, and attitudes

“… 24 Teledentistry is a technological advancement that can improve access to dental care services and enhance time management for dental practitioners and patients. 25 Although teledentistry is not a new discipline, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has raised attention to its crucial role as a tool for delivering dental services without the risk of infection. 26 , 27 …”

Exploring challenges and mitigation strategies towards practicing Teledentistry

“…They have struggled with the medicolegal issues concerned with Teledentistry practice especially in rural areas [60,61]. A whooping 70-80% majority of Malaysian dentists expressed uncertainty in the usefulness of Teledentistry in their country [62]. A nationwide study conducted in Brazil confirmed that their dentists were not adequately prepared to implement Teledentistry [63].…”