Dental visit: is it really possible even online?

The telecommunication is the new medium for prevention and dental health care: to propose for the first time in Italy visits to the dentist on video is the teacher Federica Demarosi, dentist with many years of experience, currently Outpatient Specialist at the Department of Primary Care of the Local Health Unit of Piacenza.

“The Covid gave me the idea: during the lockdown I received dozens of messages from patients, friends and relatives, asking me for help, remote advice, sending me photos of their oral cavities. My son this: why not offer it as a service? A service that focuses mainly on prevention: it is clear that video cannot intervene where necessary, but I can detect any problems that can be solved independently or report incorrect lifestyles, which can be corrected with good will. For example, just by looking in your mouth, I can tell if you brush your teeth correctly or not ».

In this way, the dentist is no longer only called to drill, implant, uproot, but it is good to contact the specialist for periodicals. “Maintenance coupons” precisely in order to limit surgical and / or instrumental interventions: «Enough of pure interventionism, we dentists usually arrive only when the damage is done and we can do nothing but solve with a scalpel or a drill. But Most dental and mouth problems can be avoided almost 100% with good prevention».

For years, in-depth studies have shown that a healthy or cured tooth retains its chewing and aesthetic function for life. Not surprisingly, in archaeological excavations, dental arches have been found perfectly preserved after centuries. The goal cannot therefore be only there longevity implants, but rather it must be that of your own teeth.

For this, it was necessary to create a more practical and dialectical mode of dentist-patient contact. So here is the service, offered through the site www.addentalasalute.com. It is not a question of remote monitoring of examinations, as is already the case for cardiac patients and diabetics, but of real clinic, even remotely and without instrumentation.

Just book and you will receive a link to click to enter the virtual office of Dr. Demarosi. Here equipped with a mobile phone with photo and video camera, a good source of light, Internet connection and 2 teaspoons, it is possible to visit the oral cavity, following the doctor’s instructions.

A service that winks at the future: the premises for a diffusion of telemedicine (and therefore of teleodontology) are already in the directives of the Ministry, with particular reference to Health pact 2024-2016. The same Recovery plan provides for the extensive development of this patient management mode.

According to those guiding principles, it can therefore be said that the teleodontoiatria humanizes care, eliminating the classic “dentist terror”, which becomes a smiling face beyond a screen; allows a specialist consultation to the Italian and foreign population who, for various reasons, of isolation, age, handicap, travel for work / vacation, do not have easy access to a good level of facilities.

Last but not least, this service it contains the advancement of chronic diseases and potentially lethal – growing in the population -, such as mucosal cancer and diabetes, allowing to identify the first symptoms or to verify some preconditions over time. “Few people know, for example, that good brushing keeps diabetes awayDemarosi says.

Furthermore, teleodontology also allows Telecooperation sanitary, or “the assistance provided by a doctor or other health worker to another doctor or other health worker engaged in a health act”. «The WHO predicted the decrease of caries in children up to 80% by 2020 and Italy is close to the finish line. We can aim for the same results for adults, ”says Demarosi confidently.

Ma When to resort to teleodontology? «Better start the checks in pediatric age and then request them above all in pregnancy and menopause to monitor not only the cavities, but the general health of the mouth in order not to get to have cavities or worse. Two visits a year are enough. The teleodontist essentially does not brandish the forceps, but talks to the patient and observes the teeth, gums, mucous membranes, palate, all the parts. Damages are symptoms so we need to focus on the causes. Damage to teeth is only partly the result of genetics. For the rest, nutrition and hygiene are crucial ”.

In our gallery, the 8 golden rules for proper oral hygiene.