How To Do Teledentistry: A Patient's Guide

Are you finding yourself with a dental concern only to learn that the majority of dental offices are currently shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic? You’re not alone. We all woke up one day and life isn’t what we imagined anymore. 

While the recommendations for staying home are quite logical, there are still people out in our community that have dental emergencies. So how do dentists help their patients while still maintaining social distance? The answer to the majority of these patients can be found in Teledentistry.

What is Teledentistry? 

Teledentistry is a combination of telecommunications and dentistry involving the exchange of clinical information and images over remote distances for dental consultation and treatment planning. Teledentistry has the ability to improve access to oral healthcare, improve the delivery of oral healthcare, and lower its costs. It also has the potential to eliminate the disparities in oral health care between rural and urban communities. (source: American Association of Orthodontists)

Teledentistry is the provision of patient dental care at a distance, using information and communication technologies (e.g., “virtual visits”). Your Doral cosmetic dentistry expert should have this option for all patients. 

Teledentistry can be provided in a number of ways, including, as examples: 

• Live video: Live, two-way interaction between a person (patient, caregiver, or provider) and a provider using audiovisual telecommunications technology. Doral Teledentistry and Coral Gables Teledentistry practitioners usually have this option for their patients at this time.
• Store-and-forward: Transmission of recorded health information (e.g., radiographs, photographs, video, digital impressions, and photomicrographs of patients) through a secure electronic communications system to a practitioner, who uses the information to evaluate a patient’s condition or render a service outside of a real-time or live interaction.
• Remote patient monitoring (RPM): Personal health and medical data collection from an individual in one location via electronic communication technologies, which is transmitted to a provider (sometimes via a data processing service) in a different location for use in care and related support of care.
• Mobile health (mHealth): Health care and public health practice and education supported by mobile communication devices, such as cell phones, tablet computers, and personal digital assistants (PDA). 

When Can Teledentistry Be Used? 

Teledentistry must only be used:

• by Doral Teledentistry and Coral Gables Teledentistry practitioners (licensed and physically present in Doral and Coral Gables);
• to treat Doral and Coral Gables patients (physically present in Doral and Coral Gables); and
• to assist with the provision of emergency, urgent, and non-essential care.

Emergency and Urgent Care

• Emergency and urgent care include the assessment and triage of patients’ oral health care needs and the determination of the next steps.
• A full emergency examination will not be possible using teledentistry alone. 
• In those cases where telephone or virtual/remote management is insufficient, live/in-person clinical assessment may be necessary provided the dental practice has appropriate safety precautions and PPE in place.

Non-essential Care

Teledentistry enables the remote provision of “non-essential” (i.e., non-emergency and non-urgent) care to patients while ensuring ongoing physical distancing. Examples of non-essential care include:

• patient education, instruction, advice, or counseling;
• assessment or evaluation (e.g., for new or existing conditions or lesions, and for the fit of appliances);
• monitoring or follow-up (e.g., for existing ongoing treatment, new devices, or following recent treatment); and
• consultations and treatment planning (e.g., for new patients or those of record, and for existing or new conditions).

You should call your trusted Gables Cosmetic dentistry expert! 

Dr. Sonia Olivares uses her extensive experience, expertise, and education for the creation and maintenance of healthy, perfect smiles. She specializes in Smile makeover and Cosmetic Dentistry. Dr. Sonia Olivares stays up-to-date with the latest in cosmetic dentistry and dental technology in order to provide her patients with only the best aesthetic, orthodontic, and TMJ procedures. So during this pandemic, trust only the best.

What’s more, is she offers flexible payment options. You can schedule your online consultation today or call her dental office in Doral and Coral Gables in these numbers:

iSmile Doral: 305-620-8272

iSmile Coral Gables: 305-396-1026