Asynchronous teledentistry program in two long-term care facilities: Iowa's virtual dental home pilot project

Older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) often have poor oral health and difficulty accessing dental services. The aim was to implement a virtual dental home (VDH) program for residents in two LTCFs utilizing asynchronous teledentistry techniques and mobile dental equipment.

This pilot project was a 6-month longitudinal cohort study in two LTCFs. Dental hygienists and dentists from a local community health care center utilized asynchronous teledentistry to provide diagnostic and preventive dental services onsite and to establish a dental home for additional comprehensive care services. Data were collected, including resident's demographics, oral health status, and dental services received. Descriptive data analyses, Wilcoxon signed rank, and McNemar tests were conducted.

Thirty-four residents completed in-person baseline oral exams and 16 residents completed the recall exams. Ninety-two percent (n = 23) of dentate residents (n = 25) had untreated caries and 64% (n = 16) of dentate residents had at least one sextant of severe gingival inflammation. The median number of teeth with active untreated caries (p = .01) significantly decreased and arrested caries (p = .02) significantly increased from baseline.

Iowa's VDH pilot project was successful in establishing a dental home using asynchronous teledentistry for residents in two LTCFs and providing resident access to preventive and disease control dental services.