Práctica de la teleodontología en la consulta odontológica durante el covid-19. revisión de alcance

Abstract

Teledentistry is the use of telecommunications and technology in dental care interactions, through which distant consultations are possible. Despite the age of teleodontology, this modality has been tested since 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic has required the development of potential uses of telehealth. Coronavirus is transmitted by direct contact with oral fluids, which makes high risk within the dental office unavoidable, forcing dentists to advance in the application of protocols for the use of teledentistry. The objective is to explore the practice of teleodontology employed in public or private practice during the COVID-19 pandemic through a scoping review. A scoping review was carried out through an electronic search in English in search engines and databases: ScienceDirect (Elsevier), PubMed (MedLine), SciELO, and in Spanish the Google Scholar search engine of articles published during the period March 2020-June 2021. Seven articles with publication between 2020 and 2021 related to the topic were selected. The articles analyzed present practices that maintain a basic structure with small changes in each of the steps that comprise it, and all aim to reduce the risks of contagion for dental personnel and the spread among patients and, likewise, to ensure the continuity and provision of the necessary dental care. There is no consensus on the use of a certified or unified protocol, and there are not many studies that report the use of protocols specifically for different areas of dentistry