Teledentistry vs. clinical examination in community-dwelling older adults

Although previous studies have indicated that older adults may benefit from teledentistry, little is known about the effects of virtual dental visits in community-dwelling older adults.

In a scoping review published in Special Care in Dentistry, investigators used the MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, Scopus and Web of Science databases to identify one study scrutinizing the efficacy of virtual or in-person clinical appointments to detect dental caries among community-dwelling older adults. Those who attended virtual appointments were assessed via smartphone-based intraoral photographs.

The investigators found that the virtual appointments provided comparable diagnostic outcomes compared with in-person visits. However, they stressed that the availability of just one study on the application of teledentistry in this patient population highlighted a critical need for further studies to analyze the concordance between virtual and in-person dental appointments and establish protocols for digital assessment — especially in the detection of subgingival proximal root caries.

Read more: Special Care in Dentistry

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