Is It Time to Consider Implementation of Telemedicine in Current Oral Health Care Services?


Ilhan B., Bayrakdar İ. Ş., Baydar O., Guneri P.

DISASTER MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS, cilt.16, sa.2, ss.423-424, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Kısa Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 16 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1017/dmp.2020.503
  • Dergi Adı: DISASTER MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, PASCAL, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.423-424
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, oral health, oral malignancy, teledentistry, telemedicine
  • Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Telemedicine offers an excellent opportunity to provide continuing health care for those in need during local/global pandemics and disasters. It provides a safe and effective communication tool between health professionals and can be used as "forward triage" to manage medical/dental emergencies and to minimize the contact between the patients and clinicians during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Patients with noncommunicable diseases, like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, or chronic respiratory diseases, may present with critical health problems due to less access to health care systems during global disasters; opportunities for screening oral mucosa might be significantly disrupted, leading to delayed diagnosis of malignant/potentially malignant lesions. Telemedicine and oral health care associated mobile applications should be implemented to provide equal access to care, to eliminate unnecessary visits to health centers, and to improve practical coordination between professionals and health facilities.