背景:Teledentic是一种新兴的工具,用于交换医疗信息和临床图像以促进诊断,预防,以及口腔疾病的治疗以及患者的保证和教育。考虑到沙特阿拉伯口腔医学专家的短缺,这项研究旨在评估牙科专家在远程口服药方面的经验及其在解决这一短缺方面的潜在适用性。
方法:这是一个试点项目,从2020年1月至2020年3月在口腔医学领域的专家中进行的横断面研究。共有16例预选的口腔病变,包括临床病史和图像,被开发,已验证,并通过电子邮件与研究参与者分享。每个病例都包括鉴别诊断问题,临时诊断,和管理。记录了回复,分析,并以平均值和百分比表示。
结果:共有49名受试者参与了这项研究,超过一半的受试者年龄在40岁以下,三分之二为女性。共有23名参与者有远程口服药的经验,主要通过WhatsApp(95.7%),这些病例来自患者,他们的家人,朋友,或其他牙医。对于所有研究案例,正确的诊断分数在73.50到100%之间,正确的管理在51%到98%之间。
结论:远程口腔医疗是一种有效的工具,可能在口腔医学服务短缺的农村地区的患者管理中发挥重要作用。有必要进行更大样本量的进一步研究,并与国际中心合作,以证实这些发现。
BACKGROUND: Teledentistry is an emerging tool to exchange medical information and clinical images to facilitate the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of oral diseases and patient assurance and education. Considering the shortage of oral medicine specialists in Saudi Arabia, this
study aims to assess the experiences of dental specialists with tele-oral medicine and its potential applicability in addressing this shortage.
METHODS: This was a pilot, cross-sectional
study conducted among specialists in the field of oral medicine from January 2020 to March 2020. A total of 16 preselected cases with oral lesions, including clinical history and images, were developed, validated, and shared via email with
study participants. Each case included questions on differential diagnosis, provisional diagnosis, and management. The responses were recorded, analyzed, and presented as means and percentages.
RESULTS: A total of 49 subjects participated in this
study and more than half were under 40 years of age and two-thirds were women. A total of 23 participants had prior experience with tele-oral medicine, mainly via WhatsApp (95.7%), and these cases were received from patients, their families, friends, or other dentists. For all
study cases, the correct diagnosis score ranged between 73.50 and 100%, and correct management ranged between 51 and 98%.
CONCLUSIONS: Tele-oral medicine is an effective tool that may play an important role in patient management in rural regions with a shortage of oral medicine services. Further studies with larger sample sizes and in collaboration with international centers are warranted to confirm these findings.