Telemedicine in Dentistry (Teledentistry)

As expected, technologic innovations in the field of dentistry have been extensive in recent years. Most important advances have been made in the use of computers, telecommunication technology, digital diagnostic imaging services, devices and software for analysis and follow-up. Nowadays, it is hard to imagine a dentistry clinic without computerized patient registry, electronic invoicing, digital radiography, intraoral cameras, digital cameras, and better equipped centres have 3D computerized systems for prosthetic dental reconstruction, and 3D cone beam computerized tomography systems for precise intratissue imaging, measurements, and navigation in operative oral and maxillofacial surgery. There are also lots of other high-quality computer systems used. What was considered relatively distant future some twenty years ago, today is the reality in dental clinics. Using most advanced information technology, the science of dentistry crosses much longer distances than it was ever able in the preceding twenty centuries. i.e. the beginning of the new era. New information technology not only improve the quality of management of dental patients, but also makes possible their partial or complete management at distances of thousands of kilometres away from health care centres or qualified dentists (Kopycka-Kedzierawski & Billings, 2006). However, the primary purpose of these intelligent systems is adequate diagnosis, since the natural disease course has changed (Jevtović, 2008). These systems would not mean a lot without telecommunication assisting the process and sending information almost instantly to interested parties within an institution and all over the world. Networking, sharing digital dentistry information, distant consultations, workup and analysis is dealt with by a segment of the science of telemedicine concerned with dentistry: teledentistry. The beginnings of teledentistry can be roughly traced back to the beginnings of telemedicine, but more specific the birth of teledentistry as a subspecialist field of telemedicine could be linked to 1994 and a military project of the United States Army (U.S. Army’s Total Dental Access Project), aiming to improve patient care, dental education, and effectuation of the communication between dentists and dental laboratories. Teledentistry demonstrated that dental professionals can consult each other even at large distances. This military project demonstrated that teledentistry was able to reduce total patient care costs, extending dental care to distant and rural areas and offering complete information required for deeper analyses (Rocca et al., 2004; Duka et al., 2009).