Teledentistry with the dental office's mobile application

ABSTRACT

PurposeTelemedicine is limited in dentistry but it has untapped opportunities. Innovative digital patient registration and “remote evaluation”, and pre-screening are based on photos and questionnaires. All these with the dental office's smartphone mobile application and with the DentaLive evaluation web software (for dentists). Methods: We have analyzed the turnover of our praxis before and after the implementation of our new service. Furthermore, 150 patients (ranging from 21-45 years) were asked why did they choose patient registration and remote evaluation through the clinic's mobile application.ResultsThe turnover increased by 43% compared to the same period last year. In addition, 72% of patients who requested remote evaluation have characterized their fear as more than 7 on a 1 to 10 scale. Out of these patients mostly provided the following cause “I wanted to get information before I went to the dentist so I won't be surprised during the treatments.” Next, 96% of patients who used the application for patient registration reported that the procedure was a pleasant experience because of the contactless registration and because they can even do it at home in a calm environment.ConclusionsTeledentistry with the dental office's own mobile application gives the opportunity not just to catch up with new trends but to fulfill the highest level of patient care - while lowering the maintenance costs of the offices/clinics and mitigating the risk of spreading infectious diseases such as COVID-19 - with the power of asynchronous telemedicine.