Implementation Of Teledentistry In Postgraduate Dental Education During COVID-19 Pandemic In Saudi Arbia

Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Teledentistry among Dental Practitioners during COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Such a finding corroborates the findings of a previous systematic review on telehealth in which a high level of awareness and attitude were observed among healthcare professionals [17]. Most dental practitioners agreed that teledentistry is a brilliant invention that may bring certain benefits and requires forward thinking, which has resulted in a more favourable attitude towards teledentistry [7,8]. However, the knowledge level among dental practitioners in the present analysis was somewhat moderate (57.9%), which contradicts other similar studies [18][19][20].…”

“…The current finding suggested that dental practitioners are aware of teledentistry and have a favourable attitude toward it, but they are unclear of the knowledge and skills required to utilise it. One probable explanation is that dental practitioners are not well-exposed to teledentistry through workshops, lectures, or seminars [8]. In addition, work experience, postgraduate qualification, and internet access were found to be major predictors of teledentistry knowledge among dental practitioners.…”

“…Specific survey questions from each included article were extracted to represent the awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practice towards teledentistry. Five studies focused on the awareness of teledentistry among dental practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic [3,4,7,8,15], five studies on their knowledge [4,7,8,15,16], four studies on their attitude [3,4,7,8], and three studies on their practice of teledentistry [3,8,15]. Among all the included studies, three articles originated from Pakistan [4,7,15], and one article each from Colombia [3], Saudi Arabia [8], and India [16].…”

“…Moreover, teledentistry is advocated as one of the emergency measures for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, and a previous study has demonstrated that both dentists and patients feel more secure using teledentistry to minimize non-essential interaction during the pandemic [6]. Since the transition from COVID-19 being a pandemic to an endemic is becoming highly probable, widespread adoption of teledentistry during and after the pandemic is critical, as the primary goal is to avoid face-to-face contact, especially for vulnerable groups, and limit the transmission of this contagious disease [7,8].…”

“…Understanding how dentists perceived teledentistry as an alternative tool during the pandemic crisis and how teledentistry may affect future dental professionals' practice are of paramount importance. Although various surveys on dental practitioners' perceptions of the employment of teledentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic have been conducted [3,4,7,8], there has yet to be a systematic evaluation and analysis of dental practitioners' awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practice towards teledentistry. Hence, it is imperative to delve deeper into this context and allow further stakeholders to develop a comprehensive approach for the effective and long-term use of telecommunications for dental care during or even after the pandemic.…”