Teledentistry Shows Promise in Improving Military Dental Care Access

USA: The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for medical facilities, including those serving active-duty military personnel. Long wait times and limited availability of healthcare professionals made it difficult to provide timely care, particularly during daily “sick-call” lineups for immediate medical attention.

In an effort to address these challenges, Maj. Vladimir Vader, a comprehensive dentist with the 9th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, conducted a groundbreaking study during his residency titled “Evaluating the Diagnostic Interrater Reliability between Virtual and In-person Sick-call Examinations at a Military Dental Treatment Facility.”

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Teledentistry Increases Access to Military Personnel

Vader’s research aimed to explore the potential of teledentistry, or virtual dental examinations, as a means to increase access to care for active-duty service members. As he explained, “Virtual dental examinations are known as teledentistry and has emerged as a potentially innovative approach to increasing access to care.”

The study evaluated the reliability of virtual emergency examinations by comparing them with in-person examinations for patients seeking emergency dental care at a military dental treatment facility. Approximately 100 patient-subjects received both virtual and in-person examinations by two different examiners on the same day, with the examiners providing their diagnoses independently.

The results showed a high degree of diagnostic interrater reliability between the virtual and in-person examinations, leading to the conclusion that “teledentistry is an effective tool for determining diagnosis and improving access to care for dental emergencies at a military dental treatment facility.”

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Recognition and Future Implications

Vader’s research was showcased at the Society of Federal Health Professionals’ (AMSUS) annual meeting in February 2024, where it was selected among the top three submissions for the AMSUS Young Investigator Award.

Encouraged by the findings, Vader and his team are now planning to pilot another study that will expand the research to several dental treatment facilities, with the goal of implementing virtual sick-call appointments on a broader scale. As Vader stated, “This research has the potential to provide active-duty military members with greater access to care through virtual dental sick-call appointments.”

The potential benefits of teledentistry in the military context include increased patient convenience, reduced missed duty time, lower in-patient expenditure, more efficient triage and scheduling, and improved overall access to care. Moreover, the findings from Vader’s studies could pave the way for further innovations in military healthcare beyond dentistry, as well as contribute to the growing body of research on the benefits of telemedicine.