Knowledge and Attitudes of Dentistry Students Toward Teledentistry

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to determine dentistry students' views on the use of teledentistry services. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among dentistry students (169 people) in Zahedan, Iran. A questionnaire was designed to obtain dentistry students' knowledge and attitudes towards teledentistry. The scores less than and more than three were considered undesirable and desirable, respectively, to interpret the results. Mean knowledge, attitude score, standard deviation, and frequency distribution were calculated. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the demographic information, and the survey data were analyzed using the independent t-test and one-way ANOVA test. The level of significance was fixed at P ≤ 0.05. Results: The mean score of the research population knowledge was 2.59± 0.51. The mean score of the research population attitude was 2.53± 0.47. The results of the tests (t-test and ANOVA) performed to examine the relationships between the variables showed that there was only one relationship between the age group variable and students' knowledge. Conclusion: The present study results showed that dentistry students' knowledge and attitude towards teledentistry was not desirable and needed more attention. Therefore, the relevant institutions must pay more attention to the necessary measures such as holding educational classes and conducting research on the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of teledentistry to improve students' level of knowledge and attitude and make this technology operational and integrate it into the health environment.