When you consider the daily duties of a dentist, the image that comes to mind consists of going from one patient to another, assessing diseases, scaling teeth, educating on dental health, looking at radiographs, and preparing patients for a complete exam. However, there are new and improved ways for dentists to conduct their business now. And it’s known as teledentistry.
Consider teledentistry as one of the most high-tech ways for the patients to receive the care they need. With that being said, let’s give you a closer look at the basic facts of teledentistry.
What exactly is teledentistry?
Teledentistry focuses on the use of technology to offer dental care to patients without the need to visit a dentist’s office. Patients can simply take a video or photo of their aching or sore tooth and share that with a dentist sitting at a remote location. Then, the dentist looks at the photo or video to figure out the tooth problem.
After this, they prescribe medication to ease the symptoms of tooth discomfort until it completely heals or at least until the person can go to a physical clinic for a close inspection. Now, this is only an example of the use of teledentistry.
In this case, it will help a dentist to get as much information as possible from the patient, so that he has enough data for a proper diagnosis.
Why is teledentistry needed for dental professionals?
Dental hygienists need teledentistry to make sure their patients don’t need to visit the physical office for no reason. After all, there are times when a toothache or similar issues can be easily solved with the over-the-counter remedy a dentist recommends over call or chat.
As per tab32, dental professionals need teledentistry because it helps patients to get some immediate relief from pain or soreness. When the patient finds it hard to visit the dentist’s office, the dentist can prescribe antibiotics or other medication that help a person get palliative from toothaches or abscesses until they can finally reach the office for follow-up examination.
Expansion the field of teledentistry
The use of teledentistry can help more people receive regular dental checkups. Most people have a habit of never going to the dentist until the pain is too much to bear. As such, getting dental care minus the need to travel anywhere might sound more appealing to most people. Moreover, there are many people with a fear of dentists or dental clinics. They can seek primary dental care without the need to be in an environment that makes them feel uneasy.
Main advantages of teledentistry
First and foremost, teledentistry opens the doors to many new jobs in the field of dentistry and beyond. For instance, the field will need new and better developers to handle the applications, machine learning algorithms, and cloud solutions. On the other hand, as a greater number of people start taking advantage of this kind of dental care, the job security of the dental hygienists gets a definite boost.
Another undeniable benefit associated with teledentistry is making dental care available to the underserved communities. There are people with lack of access to a good dental clinic, and they can now get the care they deserve through teledentistry.
Also, teledentistry lets busy dental professionals focus completely on patient care and save time simultaneously. A person with mild dental troubles can seek treatment through teledentistry, while the other person seeking a root canal can get the treatment faster because there are fewer patients waiting at the clinic for the dentist.
All in all, teledentistry has come out to be a win-win feature of a clinic for both the dentist and the patients. It’s time now to see how far this new technology takes this medical field.
