TELEDENTISTRY: PROPOSAL OF AN IMPLEMENTATION MODEL IN INDIA

While oral health is recognised as a key element of overall health, well-being and quality of life, a significant disparity exists within India when it comes to access to qualified dental care. It is noteworthy that while there is one dentist for every 10,000 urban dwellers in India, in rural India, this ratio falls to one dentist for every 150,000 people. Teledentistry is the use of telecommunications and information technologies to support long-distance clinical oral health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration This could include appointing a general dental surgeon and/or dental hygienists at the remote centres, who aim to extend proximal and cost effective care to their catchment population, while supported remotely by specialists. In addition to patient care, Teledentistry can be utilised to provide remote clinical training to dental professionals as well as enhanced patient education using web based self-instruction and/or video-conferencing tools. High reliability and low latency internet bandwidth is a key infrastructure backbone required for effective teledentistry. Some training and capacity building of the professionals involved in the care value-chain, as well as an effective technical support group is required at the hubs. Also, an institutional framework and a clear set of policies are required, which respond to issues such as liability/accountability of the professionals involved, malpractice protection for patients, data privacy/confidentiality of patient information and ensuring prior informed consent of patients. This paper is an attempt to discuss the concept of teledentistry, its applications, scope and limitations in the Indian context.