Dental Economics: The value teledentistry visits bring to dentists and their patients

By: Daniel W. Croley, DMD, Chief Dental Officer at Delta Dental

Dental Economics — It’s no surprise that the pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth across the medical and dental spheres. As dental offices learned to navigate lockdown measures, extended safety protocols, and assuaged patients’ fears of becoming exposed to the virus via the dental office, virtual care has only scratched the surface of its potential in teledentistry. The market is expected to reach $2.6 billion by the end of the decade.

A 2020 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found dental practices that set up telehealth services were able to remotely evaluate patients and develop recommendations, provide problem-focused and urgent care evaluations, offer pharmacological management, and follow up on emergency care.

Despite historically not being widely adopted in the dental profession due to limits on reimbursements, state regulations, and the onus that dental care requires a patient to be present in the dental chair, teledentistry has inherent value as we continue to traverse the pandemic and its virus variants.

Read Dr. Croley's full article in Dental Economics.