How did we get here? A brief history of Teledentistry
Part 1: From Fort McPherson To Your Smartphone: An Introduction to Teledentistry
In the first of a three-part series, we talk about the evolution of Teledentistry from a Military Army Base in 1989, to the smartphones of millions of Americans today.
“The idea that every American, and perhaps eventually every human would have access to a fully licensed dentist, with their years of education and expertise, at the tips of their fingers is awe-inspiring.” Dr. Brian Vancil, FL
Teledentistry is being increasingly recognized as an exciting way forward in dentistry. This has been some time in the making. Teledentistry first entered the conversation in 1989 within a larger discussion on dental informatics. One of the most significant early uses was a US Army initiative in 1994 called the Total Dental Access (TDA) Project.
The TDA’s pilot saw 15 patients receive follow up periodontal care by taking intraoral photos in the dental clinic of Fort McPherson and sending them by 9600 baud modem to Fort Gordon 120 miles away. Fourteen of the patients were saved the journey as the teledental contact was a satisfactory means of follow up for the supervising dentist in Fort Gordon.
In 1995, this method expanded to troops stationed overseas when dentists deployed in Haiti could send images via satellite back to specialists in Walter Reed Medical Center in DC for consultation. Web-based teledentistry was first executed as part of TDA in 1997.
Not long after its military adoption, teledentistry projects were employed in a community context. An early undertaking in the community was the joint effort by USC’s Mobile Dental Clinic and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Teledentistry Project to serve children in remote areas.
Many of these community teledentistry projects involve hygienists or dental health aid therapists (DHATs) taking intraoral photographs and sending them digitally to supervising dentists.
A fantastic example is the DENTEX collaboration between the University of Washington and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Center. The programme began in 2007 and today has 24 dental therapists in 10 rural clinics sending digital images and health information to supervising dentists for review. By 2014 this teledentistry initiative had brought access to oral care to 35,000 people previously underserved.
In recent years, the use of teledentistry in a commercial context has increased in viability. Most people now carry a high quality camera in their pocket every day. Apps like Toothpic harness the capability of this camera to take intraoral photographs and rely on a dental network to review the images and patient information.
Your Dentist In Your Pocket
Teledentistry on a smartphone
“My dad is a dentist, and while working late one night, I was concerned about a gap I’d noticed in my lower gum, so I called him to ask what I should do. Of course, he couldn’t help over the phone but suggested I send him a photo. On doing so, he called straight back with a diagnosis and recommendation and mentioned how the quality of the photo was as good as those taken by professional dental cameras. That’s when I realized how much technology could help dentists and patients. The original Toothpic was born.” Mark Moore (Toothpic CEO)
What is Toothpic?
With Toothpic, patients take 1–6 photos of their mouth, teeth, and gums on their smartphone. Along with some dental history and habit questions, this is sent to a Toothpic Network dentist licensed in their state. The dentist annotates the patient’s photos, and this is returned to the patient as a dental report in the Toothpic app.
How can I get involved in the dental network?
Toothpic has a dental network across the United States and often experiences demand for new dentists in certain states. Signup www.oraleye.com/join/ and one of our representatives will be in touch or reach out to the Network Manager on network@toothpic.com to express your interest.
Did you find this piece useful? What more would you like to know? Let us know in the comments how your experience has been with social media and get in touch with us if you need any more advice.
