Impact of Teledentistry Programs on Dental Service in Rural Areas: A Systematic Review

摘要

Aim. To assess the evidence on the impact of teledentistry (TD) programs on dental service in rural areas. Methods. Five databases (PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Embase, Ovid MEDLINE and ScienceDirect) were screened until august 2018 to find english papers on the impact of TD programs in dental service in rural zones. Titles and abstracts were systematically organized in spreadsheets of Microsoft Excel software. Repeated titles from different databases were eliminated and those that seemed to fulfill inclusion criteria or presented limited information to be categorized were downloaded in PDF format for full-text reading. The most relevant methodological data were extracted and presented in a table. Also, the methodological quality of included studies was assessed by using an adaptation of New Castle Ottawa Scale. Results. Database searching resulted in 50 papers but only 4 fulfilled inclusion criteria and remained for qualitative analysis. Regarding methodological quality of included studies, they have high risk of bias. TD studies focused on dental diagnosis (n=2 studies) and dental treatment planning (n=2 studies) in children or adults. In vivo mouth recording was the main method used on TD programs, comparing the outcomes (n=2 studies) or not (n=2 studies) with physical consultation. Selected studies revealed that TD has a positive impact in terms of dental diagnosis, treatment planning on rural communities but more studies are necessary. Conclusions. TD programs seem to have a positive impact on dental service in rural areas but further evidence is required to use it as a feasible and economic tool to improve communication, diagnosis, dental treatment planning.