Authors : Vandana V Gopi, Deepak Daryani, Uthkal MP, Fathimathi Zehra
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijohd.2019.015
Volume : 5
Issue : 2
Year : 2019
Page No : 59-62
Teledentistry, a subset of the concept of Telemedicine, is an upcoming field in dentistry that combines telecommunication, information technology, internet, digital imaging to support clinical oral health care on a long distance, patient education, professional health related education, public health administration. There are broadly two approaches used in Teledentistry, Real time consultation and Store and Forward method. Addition of Teledentistry to our national health care systems like National Rural Health Mission enables enhanced availability of oral health care at the Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres and District hospitals. Each district hospital can act as a “Main Centre” for providing teledentistry consultations to a group of remotely located Primary Health Centres or Community Health Centres. Effective training and technical support group is required at the main centre (District hospital). Also an institutional framework and a clear set of policies are required which respond to issues such as liability of the professionals involved, malpractice protection for patients, data privacy of patient information and ensuring prior informed consent of the patient. This paper is an attempt to discuss the concept of teledentistry and its implementation model in the Indian context.
Keywords: Dentistry, Teledentistry, Telemedicine.