Teledentistry vs the Real Thing: Pros and Cons

The internet has become increasingly present in dental healthcare, from virtual check-ups to online storage of health records. Teledentistry has the chance to revolutionize the way dentistry is practiced—but can it really compensate for in-person dental care?

Teledentistry refers to the variety of ways in which dental services can be performed over the internet. Although many people associate telehealth only with virtual check-ups, the scope of teledentistry is much wider. Most of teledentistry falls within these categories:

• Real-Time Consultation: A real-time consultation consists of a synchronous conversation between you and your dentist using audiovisual technology, such as Zoom or Telehealth.
• Store-And-Forward Method: The store-and-forward method refers to the electronic transmission and storage of your medical information. This information can include photographs, radiographs, videos, and written data, depending on the type of care you’re seeking. The store-and-forward method allows a dentist to perform a sort of asynchronous ‘consultation’, as a dentist can consult your online information without a personal meeting.
• Remote Monitoring Method: Remote patient monitoring is used for conditions that require continuous observation. Patients with heart conditions, for example, benefit from being monitored, as their condition could change at any time. With remote patient monitoring, equipment like heart monitors and breathing apparatuses allow patients to stay at home while their doctors evaluate them from afar. Data is transmitted from the patient’s geographic area to that of the healthcare provider.
• Mobile Health: Mobile health, or simply mHealth, refers to using a mobile device like a phone or iPad for medical care or education. An example of a mHealth app is MyChart, which acts as a patient portal and provides patients with the ability to pay their bills, communicate with their dentists, and view their records in one place.
• Near-Real-Time Consultation: Near-real-time consultation uses lower resolution data in order to communicate and process health information as quickly as possible.

Combining these various telecommunication practices and dentistry creates teledentistry. Teledentistry enables people to seek dental care who otherwise would not be able to, but it also comes with limitations.

Pros of Teledentistry

Teledentistry has the potential to bridge the urban-rural gap in dental care

There exists a significant rural-urban divide between dental care. Despite half of humanity living in rural areas, they only have access to 23% of the world’s healthcare facilities. Often, people in these areas must travel much longer distances to reach dentists compared to their urban counterparts.

As a result, rural populations are significantly less likely to receive preventative dental care (such as cleanings) but more likely to receive restorative care (such as root canals). Due to the difficulty of accessing dental care, rural populations often don’t seek a dentist until after something goes wrong and restorative care is the only option. In contrast, urban populations can seek preventative care with relative ease, meaning they’re less likely to need restorative care in the future.

Teledentistry has the potential to bridge the vast urban-rural gap in dental care. Using online healthcare services, rural patients can seek out dental care regardless of their geographic location.

Teledentistry can make dentistry more efficient

Getting to the dentist’s office on time for your appointment, only to wait upwards of an hour to be seen—sound familiar?

When going to a dentist in-person, long waiting times are often the norm. This not only impacts you, but also your dentist: a backlog of patients can form quickly, leading dentists to be booked for multiple months. This poses a problem when a patient needs immediate care.

Teledentistry, on the other hand, allows you and your dentist more flexibility in scheduling appointments.

Teledentistry appointments take much less time than traditional appointments: twenty minutes, as opposed to an hour for in-person appointments. If you have a non-emergency appointment, using teledentistry prevents you from needing to dedicate hours of your day to a routine dentist appointment.

In addition, this allows dentists to grant more time and space in their practice to patients seeking care that can only be done in-person, such as cleanings or cavity fillings.

Teledentistry helps reduce people’s fear of going to the dentist

Lots of people, particularly children, are scared of dentists. Dental anxiety can be so severe that it causes people to avoid going to the dentist altogether. This extreme form of dental anxiety is called dentophobia.

Teledentistry allows patients to access the dentist from their own home. This helps them avoid the more ‘scary’ aspects of the dentist, such as loud drills, syringes, and pokey metal instruments. As a result, people with dentophobia have an easier time seeking care through teledentistry.

Cons of Teledentistry

Teledentistry relies on having an internet connection

Teledentistry, by definition, takes place over the internet. Though some rural people undoubtedly benefit from being able to access dental care without traveling long distances, other people in these areas lack access to the internet. As a result, they won’t be able to benefit from virtual appointments and online medical advice.

As the healthcare industry shifts increasingly towards virtual communication with patients, people without internet access, particularly low-income people, may be left behind.

Teledentistry can be expensive

Though the cost of a teledentistry appointment is much less than that of an in-person appointment (teledentistry is around $75, while in-person appointments range from $100 to $300), other factors can make the cost of teledentistry more than it’s worth.

• Equipment: Often, dentists are reluctant to implement telecommunications technology, as it can be an extra expense.
• Insurance: As teledentistry has only recently become widespread, some insurance companies do not yet cover teledentistry appointments. This may prove difficult to people who can’t afford to pay out of pocket.
• Internet access: As stated before, people who cannot afford internet access or electricity cannot access teledentistry.
• New training: Introducing new technology into a dental practice requires the training of staff, who otherwise have no experience practicing dentistry remotely. This training can cost time and money.

Teledentistry is not as effective as in-person dentistry

Teledentistry can help patients address some problems, but certain things just can’t be done outside a traditional dentist’s office.

When you visit a dentist in person, you’re able to get a professional cleaning, X-rays, and other services only accessible through dental technology. Professional cleanings, for example, use tools you don’t have at home to get spots on your teeth you miss while brushing. Additionally, these cleanings get rid of tartar (the hard stuff that forms on your teeth), which you can’t remove through brushing and flossing.

Teledentistry and in-person dental services have their advantages and disadvantages

Teledentistry, as a budding technology, poses both great opportunities and big questions for dentistry. People who may benefit most from teledentistry are those in rural areas, while others, such as people without electricity, cannot access this new technology.Traditional, in-person care is still vital to dentistry, but teledentistry opens more doors to make the dental practice more efficient, accessible, and cost-effective. If teledentistry appeals to you and your needs, you can reach out to Elizabeth Wakim DDS, who includes teledentistry in her practice.