Virtual care, real results: Teledentistry strategies for modern dental teams

The barriers patients face when accessing dental care are multifaceted and influenced by individual, systemic, and societal factors. Affordability, benefits coverage, location, physical ability, health literacy, language, and cultural factors all play a role in how patients access care.¹

Poor oral health, in turn, creates its own obstacles to education and employment.²

According to the CDC, students lose more than 34 million school hours each year because of unplanned dental care. The impact on workers is astounding as well: The CDC reports that some 92 million hours of work are lost annually for emergency care, and untreated dental disease amounts to productivity losses of $45 billion.³

Enter teledentistry to remove barriers and reshape how dental care is delivered. 

Innovative apps allow dental providers to meet their patients where they are, when they need virtual care. Although abundantly available, teledentistry shouldn’t be used to replace in-person care and treatment, but rather as a supplemental tool for virtual consultations, follow-ups, and additional resources to patients who can’t easily make it in for an office visit.

In this article, we explore the different types of teledentistry apps and best tech-adoption practices:

The teledentistry landscape

Teledentistry apps offer a range of services, from managing patient information to facilitating virtual consultations with dental providers. With thousands of direct telemedicine apps available—many lacking regulation—dentists must be careful about which they use and recommend. 

The key here is prioritizing apps that enhance in-person care rather than attempting to replace it.

Distinguishing reliable solutions from ineffective, or even harmful, ones starts with an understanding of what’s available, and most teledentistry apps fall into three broad categories:

1. Patient information apps that support oral-health management.
2. Consultation apps that enable virtual patient-dentist conversations and interactions.
3. Care replacement apps, which provide remote treatment solutions.

Next up, providers need to take a closer look at what each type of app offers:

• Patient information apps are generally comprehensive digital health platforms that centralize dental records, treatment plans, and post-care instructions in one convenient place. They often give patients access to educational resources, appointment reminders, progress-tracking tools, and direct lines of communication with their dentists. Some apps even allow users to upload photos for remote evaluations, though these should never replace an in-person diagnosis. By streamlining access to information, communication, and virtual evaluations, these apps empower patients to take control of their oral health.

• Consultation apps increase care accessibility by facilitating virtual appointments and real-time communication where patients can seek advice, receive preliminary diagnoses, and discuss treatment plans. Dentists, meanwhile, gain access to more flexible consult scheduling and can reach more patients. However, these tools do come with data security and patient privacy challenges. The best consultation apps are HIPAA-compliant, use end-to-end encryption, and have strong authentication methods to verify all users. These measures help ensure patient information remains confidential and protected.

• Care replacement apps are also disrupting the scene by offering patients convenient and affordable self-guided treatments. This convenience comes with a caveat, however: dentists and patients must be aware of the risks associated with remote assessments and unsupervised care.

Integrating teledentistry into your practice

Dentists can protect patients’ oral health in and out of the operatory by using and proactively recommending safe and effective digital teledentistry tools. Here’s how:

1. Assess your patients’ needs. Consider your patient population’s demographics, technology access, and oral health concerns to align your teledentistry offerings and suggestions with their specific needs, be it providing virtual visits or resources.
2. Evaluate your app options. When selecting an app, prioritize tools that secure patient data, support seamless communication, and comply with industry regulations.
3. Empower your patients. It’s one thing to offer a teledentistry tool; it’s another to give your patients the confidence to use it. Provide training sessions, educational resources, and ongoing support to give patients confidence when using the app. Be open, and address their concerns about privacy, how the app works, and which oral health conditions can and cannot be assessed virtually. Then, encourage their feedback to help you identify challenges and better your patient experience.
4. Train your team. Ensure your team has the resources and training they need to help your patients make the most of your teledentistry tools.
5. Monitor your tools. Regularly review your app’s usage and track patient engagement to ensure it’s being used to its full potential. Look at key performance indicators including patient satisfaction, the effectiveness of virtual consultations, and oral health outcomes. With an eye on this data, you can adapt your services to fit your patients’ needs.

Teledentistry is helping break down barriers to access to dental care and making strides to improve patient engagement. But while digital tools can streamline patient communication and enhance treatment planning, they should complement, not replace, in-office care. By adopting the right teledentistry solutions to improve access to care, your practice can enhance the patient experience and improve patient outcomes.

References

1. Barriers preventing access to dental care may be a complex issue. ADA Morning Huddle. ADA News. https://adanews.ada.org/huddles/barriers-preventing-access-to-dental-care-may-be-a-complex-issue/
2. Kessler B. America’s well-being depends on oral health. The Washington Post. January 19, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/creativegroup/american-dental-association/americas-well-being-depends-on-oral-health/
3. Oral health facts. CDC. May 15, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in DE Weekend, the newsletter that will elevate your Sunday mornings with practical and innovative practice management and clinical content from experts across the field. Subscribe here.