By Mary Otto
Teledentistry traces its official beginnings back to two U.S. Army pilot projects launched in 1994 and 1995. These efforts in Georgia and Haiti were part of a larger telehealth program initiated by the military. They helped demonstrate that digital consultations helped save patients time and evacuations related to dental care.
Over the years, teledentistry has harnessed evolving technology to link patients with to an expanding array of dental services.
Today, a small but growing number of dental hygienists, dental therapists and other providers are using portable intraoral cameras, digital x-rays and electronic communications to consult remotely with dentists on patient treatment plans; to provide screenings, referrals and oral health education, and to connect patients living in underserved and isolated communities with specialty and emergency consultations.
One leading effort, the Virtual Dental Home program, based at the University of the Pacific’s Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, deploys dental hygienists equipped with portable instruments and telehealth technology to some remote sites including Head Start Centers, elementary schools, group homes and skilled nursing facilities. Using electronic communications, the hygienists work with remote dentists to develop treatment plans and deliver care to patients who might otherwise go without services.
Funding for the program has come from grants and traditional payment sources such as Denti-Cal, California’s Medicaid dental program.
In this 2018 video interview, The Virtual Dental Home: A Vision to Facilitate Access to Oral Health Care, project leader Paul Glassman, a University of the Pacific School of Dentistry professor, discusses a partnership that is now bringing the model to public health sites in Hawaii.
Appearing with Glassman is Andrew Tseu of the Hawaii State Department of Health, who is heading the effort in that state.
The Pew Charitable Trusts included an early look at the Virtual Dental Home model in a larger examination of dental workforce expansion in a 2014 report Expanding the Dental Team: Increasing Access to Care in Public Settings.
In that report, Pew also looked at projects in Alaska and Minnesota that are using dentist-headed teams that include midlevel dental providers to deliver care to remote sites.
Another useful survey, Case Studies of Six Teledentistry Programs: Strategies to Increase Access to General and Specialty Dental Services from the Center for Workforce Studies at the State University of New York, Albany, highlights additional initiatives.
The 2016 report includes stories and findings from projects in Minneapolis; Penn Yann, N.Y.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Independence and Salem, Ore.;, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Waycross, Ga., and provides a state-by-state look at telehealth policies that were in effect as of that year.
In recent years, the American Dental Association has recognized the growing importance of teledentistry by adopting procedural codes to be used for billing for teledentistry services and by formulating a comprehensive policy statement on teledentistry.
