Teledentistry awareness, its usefulness, and challenges among dental professionals in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

Objectives This study aims to describe the perception of dental professionals in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (SA) towards the practice of teledentistry, its usefulness and challenges. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out among 190 dentists from January 2021 to April 2021. The participants were included in the study using snowball sampling method. A 26-item adopted questionnaire was distributed using different social media channels. Chi-square test was used for analysis. Results Out of 190 participants, 46.3% were from Pakistan and 53.7% were from SA. The majority of participants in both countries agreed that teledentistry would enhance guidelines and advice (74.2%), improve peer-to-peer interaction (79.5%) and make patient's referrals more efficient (75.8%). For the usefulness, most participants agree that it is economical for the patients (61.1%), improves communication (74.7%), helps in educating the patients (86.3%), avoid unnecessary travel (76.8%), helps monitoring (71.6%), and benefits patients in remote areas (74.7%); however, more Pakistani participants perceived that time spent with the patient would increase compared to SA participants (p < 0.001) and a higher proportion of SA participants believe that it helps in communication and monitoring of patients (p < 0.001) than Pakistani participants. Regarding the challenges in the use of teledentistry, few participants think that it violates the patient's privacy (22.6%) or is difficult to use (14.7%) or have distrust towards the teledentistry equipment (24.2%). Conclusion The results indicated a high awareness and a positive attitude towards teledentistry, and its adaptation in their dental practice in both countries. However, limited infrastructure, set-up cost, and information technology (IT) literacy are the main challenges in integrating teledentistry which can be overcome by strategic government initiatives, policies, and programs.

Automated summary

The study found that dental professionals in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have a positive perception and attitude towards teledentistry. They generally believe that teledentistry can enhance guidelines and advice, improve peer-to-peer interaction, and make patient referrals more efficient. They also believe that teledentistry is cost-effective for patients, improves communication, helps educate patients, avoids unnecessary travel, helps with monitoring, and benefits patients in remote areas. However, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian dental professionals have some differences in the challenges of teledentistry, including increased time spent with patients, communication and monitoring needs, etc. The challenges of teledentistry mainly include limited infrastructure, setup costs, and information technology literacy. To overcome these challenges, strategic government initiatives, policies, and programs are needed.