TELEDENTISTRY: A NEW PARADIGM TO IMPROVE ORAL HEALTH

During my 12-year tenure as Chief of Developmental Disabilities in Hawaii, we designed and initiated the "Virtual Dental Home" project based upon the concept of "teleden-tistry" Together with Amber, we collaborated as faculty in different departments within our school to create a tele-dentistry curriculum pilot program for dental and dental hygiene students at UTHealth School of Dentistry. A dental hygienist brings mobile dental equipment: an intra-oral camera, a laptop with encryption for HIPAA security ("patient information protection software"), an X-ray machine and a portable dental unit used for cleaning teeth. [...]some states have teledentistry laws that limit the location for this innovative technology. David Fray DDS, MBA is Associate Professor, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Dentistry, Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health.