Study Shows Teledentistry Boosts Treatment Completion for Rural Kids
A new study has found that 81.6% of children in a rural teledentistry program completed their recommended dental treatments within six months of their virtual consultations. Conducted by the Eastman Institute for Oral Health at the University of Rochester, the research highlights the success of teledentistry—real-time video calls between dentists and patients—in improving access to care for children in underserved areas.
The study, published in Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) and featured recently on ADA’s website, analyzed dental records from 1,168 pediatric patients who participated in the program between 2010 and 2022. Treatment completion rates varied depending on the procedure. In-office consultations had the highest success rate at 96.8%, followed by oral sedation (89.7%) and operating room treatment (89.5%). However, children recommended for nitrous oxide had the lowest treatment completion rate at just 66.7%. Age also played a role, with younger children being more likely to complete treatment.
“Having the ability to talk face to face with the patient and the family greatly reduces anxieties they may have about the treatment process, language barriers, and traveling to the Rochester area,” said co-author Dr. Sean McLaren, EIOH Chief Quality Compliance and Safety Officer and pediatric dentist.
Surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly impact compliance rates, suggesting that dental consultations via teledentistry remained a stable and reliable option throughout the public health crisis.
The study’s findings reinforce the idea that teledentistry can be an effective tool for increasing treatment completion, particularly for children with complex dental needs.
As dentistry continues to lag behind other medical fields in adopting telehealth, this study suggests that teledentistry consultations could play a bigger role in bridging the gap for underserved communities.
For more than 25 years, Eastman Institute for Oral Health has been a pioneer and longstanding leader in establishing innovative teledentistry programs, along with extensive published research. In addition to helping the families who live in rural communities across Western New York featured in the JADA study, EIOH incorporated teledentistry programs in 2003 at pre-school centers in Rochester, NY, to promote early detection and prevention of oral disease. In recent years, EIOH has expanded its teledentistry services to reach other underserved populations, including older adults and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Study co-authors include Dr. Dorota Kopycka-Kedzierawski, Dr. Ronald Billings, Dr. Bhoomi Shah, Dr. Changyong Feng, and Dr. Gene Watson.
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