Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether intraoral photographic assessment by mid-level dental providers (MLDPs) offers a valid and reliable means of dental caries screening.
Methods: A mobile teledentistry model was developed to facilitate the acquisition of dental images, and transmission and reviewing of data. One hundred regularly attending patients at a dental clinic participated in the study. Following an on-site clinical examination by a senior dentist, photographs of participants' teeth were taken by a teledental assistant, using a smartphone camera. These intraoral photographs were directly uploaded from an Android App to a cloud-based server, Remote-i', using an encrypted store-and-forward telemedicine technology. The photographic assessment carried out by two independent screeners (MLDPs), was compared to the visual oral examination scores of a benchmark examiner.
Results: The sensitivity and specificity values for the photographic assessment method (assessed by screeners) as compared to the direct visual examination ranged from 60% to 68%, and 97% to 98%, respectively. The intra-rater reliability for the photographic assessment was almost perfect, with a kappa score of 0.89. The inter-rater reliability between the photographic and visual oral assessments ranged from moderate to substantial agreement, with kappa scores ranging from 0.57 to 0.61.
Conclusion: A new smartphone-based mobile teledentistry model used by mid-level dental providers shows potential for remote screening of dental caries.
Methods: A mobile teledentistry model was developed to facilitate the acquisition of dental images, and transmission and reviewing of data. One hundred regularly attending patients at a dental clinic participated in the study. Following an on-site clinical examination by a senior dentist, photographs of participants' teeth were taken by a teledental assistant, using a smartphone camera. These intraoral photographs were directly uploaded from an Android App to a cloud-based server, Remote-i', using an encrypted store-and-forward telemedicine technology. The photographic assessment carried out by two independent screeners (MLDPs), was compared to the visual oral examination scores of a benchmark examiner.
Results: The sensitivity and specificity values for the photographic assessment method (assessed by screeners) as compared to the direct visual examination ranged from 60% to 68%, and 97% to 98%, respectively. The intra-rater reliability for the photographic assessment was almost perfect, with a kappa score of 0.89. The inter-rater reliability between the photographic and visual oral assessments ranged from moderate to substantial agreement, with kappa scores ranging from 0.57 to 0.61.
Conclusion: A new smartphone-based mobile teledentistry model used by mid-level dental providers shows potential for remote screening of dental caries.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 435-441 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |