Teledentistry from research to practice: a tale of nineteen countries

作者：Maha El Tantawi, Walter Yu Hang Lam, Nicolas Giraudeau, Jorma Ilmari Virtanen, Cleopatra Matanhire, Timothy Chifamba, Wael Sabbah, Noha A. Gomaa, Sadeq Ali Al‐Maweri, Sergio E. Uribe, Simin Z. Mohebbi, Noren Nor Hasmun, Guangzhao Guan, Ajith D. Polonowita, Sadika Begum Khan, Massimo Pisano, Passent Ellakany, Marwa Baraka, Abdalmawla Alhussin Ali, José Eduardo Orellana Centeno, Verica Pavlić, Morẹ́nikẹ́ Oluwátóyìn Foláyan · 发表于：Frontiers in Oral Health · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/froh.2023.1188557 · 被引用次数：70 · 研究领域：Dental Research and COVID-19、Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation、Scientific and Engineering Research Topics

Aim The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated teledentistry research with great interest reflected in the increasing number of publications. In many countries, teledentistry programs were established although not much is known about the extent of incorporating teledentistry into practice and healthcare systems. This study aimed to report on policies and strategies related to teledentistry practice as well as barriers and facilitators for this implementation in 19 countries. Methods Data were presented per country about information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, income level, policies for health information system (HIS), eHealth and telemedicine. Researchers were selected based on their previous publications in teledentistry and were invited to report on the situation in their respective countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Hong Kong SAR, Iran, Italy, Libya, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe. Results Ten (52.6%) countries were high income, 11 (57.9%) had eHealth policies, 7 (36.8%) had HIS policies and 5 (26.3%) had telehealth policies. Six (31.6%) countries had policies or strategies for teledentistry and no teledentistry programs were reported in two countries. Teledentistry programs were incorporated into the healthcare systems at national (n = 5), intermediate (provincial) (n = 4) and local (n = 8) levels. These programs were established in three cou...