Are Teledentistry and Virtual Consultations Going Mainstream?

Online doctor visits jumped by 154% in the pandemic’s first week. This huge shift in health care shows that your patients now expect flexible health care options.

COVID-19 boosted online tools. Healthcare providers quickly adopted virtual visits. This changed how we receive health care, making telehealth technologies essential.

If you’re considering online visits for your dental practice, this guide is for you!

In this guide, you’ll discover:

• What is teledentistry?
• Benefits of teledentistry?
• Different teledentistry solutions.
• Common challenges of teledentistry.
• The future of teledentistry.

What is teledentistry?

Teledentistry means providing remote dental care. It’s an efficient way to offer essential dental services. It uses communication technologies to let your patients talk to you from almost anywhere.

You can meet patients via smartphone, tablet, or computer. Through secure video consultations or by sending patient information like pictures, you can check your patients’ oral health.

All teledentistry services must comply with HIPAA rules. This protects patient safety and keeps all sensitive patient information private.

Teledentistry appointments are a great way to connect with current patients and welcome new dental patients to your practice!

These appointments make it easy for you to:

• Discuss concerns like minor toothaches or other dental emergencies.
• Share your professional opinion and provide a first diagnosis.
• Monitor patients’ progress with their treatment and follow-up care.
• Give important tips for daily oral health care.

Many patients feel nervous about visiting the dentist. Teledentistry can help them:

• Get to know you before an in-person visit, building trust.
• Receive advice without the sights and sounds of a typical dental office. This makes initial dental care less scary.
• Gradually get used to regular dental visits, improving their oral health and personal health. This boosts patient safety by easing anxieties.

Understanding different ways teledentistry works for your patients

To fully grasp what teledentistry is, it’s essential to understand the different options. Each one can address different patient care needs in dental care.

• Live Teledentistry (Synchronous): Common for initial video consultations. It’s like an in-person visit with live video. Suitable for first checks, dental emergencies, discussing concerns, giving quick advice, and follow-up visits. This teledentistry work provides real-time interaction, crucial for a quick diagnosis.
• Send-and-Store Teledentistry (Asynchronous): Sending patient information (pictures, X-rays) for later review. Useful for second opinions, non-urgent diagnosis, treatment planning, and watching patients’ progress.
• Online Patient Checks (Remote Patient Monitoring or RPM): This involves obtaining personal health information from patients using mobile communication devices. This technology enables you to track specific oral healthcare needs.For example, you can monitor a patient’s progress with photos or see how a patient’s condition is healing after surgery through shared pictures. This proactive health approach enhances patient safety and oral healthcare by allowing you to monitor progress without frequent in-person visits.
• Mobile Health (mHealth): These are broader healthcare services delivered through mobile communication devices, such as cell phones. This includes sending your patients text reminders for appointments, sharing oral health care tips via apps, or collecting data through simple surveys.This form of mobile health makes health care easier to access, especially for underserved populations and those in rural areas with limited access. It’s vital for improving overall dental care access and continuous patient care.

Key benefits of teledentistry for your dental practice

Teledentistry will help your dental practice in many ways, leading to superior patient care and smoother operations.

1. Give more people access to dental care

Teledentistry is a convenient way for everyone to access dental care. It connects patients across distances, making good oral health care available to more individuals. This is vital for patients in rural areas who lack easy access to dentists and medical services.

This allows your practice to welcome new patients from anywhere. It allows for more efficient treatment planning and follow-up care.

2. Lower the risk of spreading sickness

Offering teledentistry helps protect everyone in your dental office from possible exposure to germs. This dramatically improves patient safety. This proactive approach to preventing illness is a major benefit of teledentistry services.

3. Conserve essential medical supplies

During health crises, critical medical supplies like masks and gloves face high demand and shortages.

By adding teledentistry solutions to your dental practice, you help save single-use protective gear and other items needed for in-person visits. This directly aids your bottom line by lowering costs and ensuring supplies are available for other healthcare professionals. It’s a smart way to support lasting dental care.

4. Keep care going smoothly

Many patients are still nervous about scheduling in-person appointments. This can prevent them from getting regular dental care, leading to worse oral health problems.

Teledentistry visits bring your patients peace of mind. They can get a second opinion, follow-up care, or even a first diagnosis from home.

5. Maintain and strengthen patient relationships

A great connection with your patients is vital. In dentistry, trust is key.

Teledentistry will make your patients appreciate your practice even more. It shows you’re committed to:

• Keeping them safe, showing you care about patient safety.
• Making their lives easier with flexible dental services.
• Offering modern health care solutions that fit their needs and support their personal health.

This forward-thinking approach to patient care builds lasting loyalty with your patients.

6. Financial and operational benefits for your dental practice

Teledentistry offers significant financial and operational benefits for your dental practice.

• Lower operating costs: Seeing patients online can reduce the need for physical space and staff, lowering your daily operating costs.
• Increased patient volume: Teledentistry enables you to reach patients beyond your local area. Increased patient volume leads to higher revenue for your practice.
• Better workflow: Online consultations save time for both the dentist and the patient. Online visits free up chair time for bigger, in-person procedures. This makes your practice’s schedule and treatment planning smoother, increasing efficiency.
• Fewer Missed Appointments: Connecting from home means fewer missed appointments for your dental practice. This leads to more consistent income and better use of your time and practice resources, improving overall patient care.
• New Ways to Make Money: By offering teledentistry services, your practice can create new income streams, particularly from virtual consults or second opinions. This expands the dental services you can provide to all patients.

What are good teledentistry tools to use in your practice?

The technology behind telehealth systems has undergone rapid changes. Picking the right one is key to making teledentistry a success!

Many dental practices use Zoom for video conferencing because it’s easy to use and provides good call quality. It’s a valuable part of modern health care.

The American Dental Association advises against public social media platforms like Facebook Live, Twitch, or TikTok. These lack the security for HIPAA rules and for keeping patient information safe.

Your practice can use secure platforms for video consultations, such as:

• FaceTime
• Facebook Messenger video chat (with privacy settings)
• Google Meet

Tools made just for teledentistry visits offer special features for dental professionals:

• NexHealth: For virtual visits and a better patient experience in dental care.
• Doxy.This link opens a new tab to Doxy.me website: A simple, secure, free telehealth system for healthcare providers that follows HIPAA rules.
• RevenueWell Virtual Visits: Integrates smoothly with existing dental practice systems.
• Smile Virtual: Ideal for online smile checks and cosmetic treatment planning.

Our team at Marketly Digital offers another unique solution!

We create virtual consultation web pagesThis link leads to Dental Website page that allow you to interact with your patients in a HIPAA-compliant manner conveniently.

The pages are designed with a form so you can easily receive your patients’ information.

You can use platforms like Zoom to conduct the videos.

Navigating teledentistry’s hurdles for your practice

Even with its vast benefits, implementing teledentistry successfully means navigating specific hurdles.

But with the right approach, you can absolutely turn these challenges into strengths for your dental practice. Being well-informed is your first step to success.

Technology can sometimes pose initial hurdles.

Not all your patients, especially those in rural areas or underserved populations, have a strong internet connection or know how to use mobile communication devices.

You’ll also need to ensure your chosen telehealth systems are seamlessly compatible with various devices for smooth video conferencing and excellent patient care.

Provide clear instructions and easily accessible tech support to bridge this gap.

Beyond technology, legal issues, and getting paid require your sharp attention. As a dentist, you must ensure your license covers the patient’s location for remote dental care.

Understand diverse insurance policies to ensure your practice gets paid at the same rate as in-person visits. This directly impacts your practice’s financial health.

Most importantly, strictly follow HIPAA rules. Protect patient information with fully compliant telehealth systems and extensively train your staff to ensure paramount patient safety. This remains a top concern for all healthcare providers.

Finally, it’s crucial to understand teledentistry’s limits for patient safety and quality dental care. You must clearly communicate that teledentistry cannot fully replace an in-person visit for a complete diagnosis or invasive treatment.

Physical checks and X-rays are often needed for precise treatment planning and evaluating a patient’s condition.

For dental emergencies, your role as a dentist is to assess and provide a swift referral, potentially to a hospital emergency department, ensuring prompt care is provided.

Your clear education helps patients understand these distinctions, building trust and ensuring their optimal oral health.

Teledentistry: Shaping the future of oral health care

Teledentistry is a big step toward a more connected, accessible, and patient-focused health care.

The future of oral health care will surely see teledentistry services become a standard offering in dental practices.

• AI and New Technology: Expect teledentistry tools to increasingly use AI for diagnosis assistance and personalized oral health coaching. Remote patient monitoring with advanced mobile communication devices will give you, as dental professionals, live insights into a patient’s condition. This advancement in technology will make teledentistry work even more efficiently, truly improving your dental care.
• More Services: The scope will expand to specialized services like remote braces adjustments and post-surgery checks, enhancing your dental care offerings.
• Personal Health: Teledentistry will empower your patients to take a larger role in their personal health and preventive dental care through continuous remote engagement.
• Better Teamwork: Teledentistry will foster closer collaboration between dentists, specialists, and other healthcare professionals. Shared patient information will ensure comprehensive care is provided, linking medical and dental care.
• Care for Everyone: Evolving rules and technology will make teledentistry available to all underserved populations and those in rural areas,  addressing issues like internet connection. It ensures the same level of care for all your patients.

As technology evolves, so will possibilities in teledentistry, promising a healthier future for all healthcare and dental care.

We’re here for you!

The world changes daily, and new challenges arise. But our team at Marketly Digital is always here for you!

We’re dedicated to giving you the technology and support you need to thrive in this changing healthcare world.

If you ever need help or have questions about using teledentistry solutions or making your online presence stronger, please get in touch with our friendly team.

We’d be happy to assist you in making your dental practice easier to reach, run better, and ready for the future.

Key takeaways

• Teledentistry provides remote dental care through technology, including video consultations.
• It provides patients with easier access to dental care from the comfort of their own homes, saving them time and money.
• For your practice, it reduces the risk of sickness, conserves medical supplies, and enhances your practice’s health and reach.
• Key teledentistry solutions include platforms like Zoom, Doxy.meThis link opens a new tab to Doxy.me website, and Marketly Digital’s custom web pages.
• You’ll need to manage challenges such as internet connection issues, device access, and legal matters.
• The future of teledentistry is evolving, utilizing new technologies like remote patient monitoring to ensure quality and patient safety in oral healthcare.