Teledentistry: a systematic review of the literature

We conducted a systematic review of teledentistry applications. We searched the MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases for relevant articles published from 1992 to 2012. The reference lists of all retrieved articles were hand-searched. Studies were included after assessing the eligibility of the full-text article. A total of 878 studies were identified, of which 59 fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the review. The articles covered several dental specialties, mostly oral surgery, oral medicine and oral pathology. The most common type of teledentistry application was education (n = 21), followed by diagnosis (n = 16), consultation (n = 3) and treatment (n = 2). Teledentistry studies were reported in a total of 15 countries. The largest number of studies were conducted in the US (n = 22) and there were no studies from developing countries. Most of the reports referred to pilot projects and short-term outcomes, and most of the studies were descriptive. The review indicates that although teledentistry is an area of expansion, there are still some barriers to its increased use.