Dental professionals' knowledge and awareness of teledentistry

To assess teledentistry (TD) knowledge and enhance its awareness among different categories of dental professionals, interns and dental students.

This cross-sectional survey used self-administered prevalidated pretested questionnaire (electronic version) that is divided into two sections; the first section focused on participants' demographic data, and the second section assessed knowledge, attitude, practice perspectives, and perceived barriers towards TD. Re-assessment of TD knowledge was conducted following educational intervention. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess for significance at p < 0.05 using SPSS (v. 25).

A total of 553 responses were collected from dental students (N = 241), interns (N = 96), and dentists (N = 216). The baseline awareness was significantly low (27.7%), particularly among interns and dentists (p < 0.001), with projection against its usefulness in dental practice (p < 0.001). Students presented positive attitude towards TD time and costs reduction (p < 0.001). Students agreed on necessity of patients' consents and replacing traditional dental setting with digital practice (p < 0.001). For perceived barriers, patients' low literacy and charging fees were the prime barriers against TD integration. Enhanced teledentistry awareness following educational intervention was significant among students, followed by dentists, and interns.

Teledentistry baseline awareness among dental professionals was limited, particularly dentists and interns. Patient's privacy, cost-effectiveness and practical applicability of teledentistry were among the main concerns particularly expressed by the dentist. Educational intervention positively enhanced teledentistry awareness and would encourage its use for upskilling health care workers, diagnosis and management of oral diseases, highlighting the value of structured teaching.