Teledentistry: Is It the Future of Rural Dental Practice? A Cross-sectional Study

To bridge the gap between urban and rural population, a vast number of researches are being carried out. Teledentistry is one of the technological advances in dentistry. It is defined by Cook in 1997 as "the practice of using video-conferencing technologies to diagnose and provide advice about treatment over a distance." This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of teledentistry among general dentists in and around Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India.

A self-administered closed-ended questionnaire was designed. The questions were divided into three sections based on knowledge, attitude, and practice. Data collected from the questionnaire were entered in Microsoft Excel. Level of significance (P < 0.05) was set at 95% confidence interval and P < 0.01 at 99% confidence interval was maintained, and the data were statistically analyzed.

The majority of the dentists had less knowledge about teledentistry. About 73% of the dentists believe that teledentistry can provide access of specialists to the rural population.

Of the dentists, 90% agree that teledentistry would be the major advancement in the future; however, there needs to be a specific module of operation and promotion of the module in future.