Dental Area Research Articles

Knowledge and influence of primary management of dental trauma in school children, among Hubli- Dharwad school teachers by using two different educating tools

Traumatic injuries to the teeth and teeth supporting structures are one of the few areas of dentistry that should be considered as an emergency situation. The present study was conducted to assess the teachers’ knowledge as well as providing knowledge about the dental emergencies and also to know which the best educating tool to provide education is. 120 teachers were categorized into two groups that is group 1 lecture group and group 2 that is smart phone group. A detailed standardized questionnaire consisting of multiple-choice questions. Lecture presentation, was one of the study instrument for group 1. As this is an interventional study between two educating tools that is one being the lecture presentation and the other being the smartphone app. The lecture presentation was for group one where the teachers were given only a lecture about how to manage the emergency dental trauma situation. Smart phone app (Tooth Emergency) was another educating tool in this interventional study. This smartphone was used for the group 2. In group 1, 26 (43.3%) school teachers experienced teeth trauma cases in children and 34 (56.7%) school teachers did not.

Knowlege and attitude in paediatric dentistry among paediatricians.

Tooth decay is the main oral pathology and a worldwide public health problem. The paediatrician is the first medical professional to assess and treat children. Therefore, it is important that they are well informed. The aim is to determine the level of dental knowledge of paediatricians practising in the public and private health sectors in Catalonia (Spain). Cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study of the basic dental knowledge of paediatricians through an anonymous and voluntary survey of 17 questions on prevention, trauma and dental cavities. The results are segmented based on professional experience, type of centre and whether it has a paediatric dentistry area. A total of 129 paediatricians from Catalonia participated. Almost all paediatricians (86.82%) normally perform an oral examination in a routine visit; 31.8% refer the child to the paediatric dentist when the first permanent molars have erupted, and 41.9% indicate that toothpaste should contain a minimum of 1,000 ppm of fluoride. It is proven that paediatricians practising in the private sector have greater dental knowledge than those in the public sector (p = 0.019). Experience is not related to knowledge (p = 0.0691). The paediatricians who have a paediatric dentistry area in their workplace show greater knowledge (p = 0.046). Only half of the surveyed paediatricians follow the recommendations of paediatric societies on prevention aspects. In dental traumatology, professionals mostly follow the recommendations supported by the literature with high scientific evidence.

Free-Hand versus Surgical Guide Implant Placement

One of the most key areas of dentistry is dental implant surgery. The use of digital equipment and software in dentistry has developed considerably in recent years compared to other fields of medicine. Since examining the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, along with case studies, can help physicians make informed decisions, this review study aims to raise the awareness of dentists to make easier decisions about using guided or free-hand surgery. When planning for a dental implant, one of the most challenging questions that doctors face is which method to use (guided surgery or free-hand). Choosing the right method, such as other clinical considerations, will depend on the individual circumstances of each patient and the preference of the treating physician. Free-hand surgery is a cost-effective method in which the flap is reflected, and, according to the doctor's diagnostic information, an implant is placed, which in many cases is a useful method. Guided surgery has the highest level of accuracy and control, in which osteotomy is designed and printed through a digital surgery guide, and depending on the complexity of the case and the patient's anatomy, it has a higher level of value than free surgery. The surgical guide helps the surgeon make the implant surgery more accurate, safer, simpler, at a lower cost, and in less time. In fact, there are patterns that convey information about the position of the tooth to the dentist before the implant is placed.

User Experience and Sustainability of 3D Printing in Dentistry.

Background: 3D printing is a rapidly developing technology in the healthcare industry and in dentistry. Its application clearly shows that this area of digital dentistry has potential for everyday usage across all fields, including prosthodontics, orthodontics, maxillofacial surgery, and oral implantology. However, despite gaining ground, there is a lack of information about how specialists (dentists and dental technicians) use additive technology. Our research group aimed to investigate the impact of social media on additive manufacturing technology among dental specialists and their everyday usage of 3D printing. Methods: This paper investigated specialists’ everyday usage of 3D printers via an online survey (Google Forms). The survey questions aimed to discover the number of 3D printers used, the accessibility of the devices, the annual cost, and the design programs. Since specialists tend to build online communities on social media, we circulated our study questionnaire using our profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram platforms during our research. Results: A total of 120 responses were received from 20 countries, with the most significant numbers being from Hungary 23.7% (n = 27), the United States 18.4% (n = 21), and the United Kingdom 7.9% (n = 9). Most of the participants were dentists (n = 68) or dental technicians (n = 29), but some CAD/CAM specialists (n = 23) also completed our survey. The participants had an average of 3.8 years (±0.7) of experience in the 3D printing field, and owned a total of 405 printing devices (3.6 on average/person). Conclusions: The impact of social media on this research field is growing increasingly. Hence, we support specialists in joining virtual communities on professional platforms. This article intended to provide a practical overview, feedback, and direction for dentists interested in 3D printing technology. From our survey, we can conclude that additive technology is broadening dental applications and the services that we can provide for our patients.

Admissions data as predictors for student performance in restorative dentistry.

The purpose of the study was to determine the relative predictive power of admissions criteria and predoctoral academic performance in the area of restorative dentistry in order to better understand and guide the dental school admissions process. In addition to admissions criteria, student performance in restorative dentistry, such as the Final Restorative Treatment course, the didactic and preclinical examinations, and the objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), was measured for the 172 predoctoral students representing the graduating classes of 2017-2021. The association between the didactic score in restorative dentistry and grade point average (GPA, p=0.009) and Dental Admission Test (DAT, p=0.002) score was statistically significant. Although no statistically significant association was found between preclinical scores and gender, GPA, or DAT, there was a statistically significant association between preclinical scores and the Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) score (p=0.012). Preclinical scores included laboratory examinations for fixed prosthodontics, such as crown preparation and temporization, representing hand skills assessment. Finally, there was no statistically significant association found between the OSCE score and any of the admissions criteria. The dental admissions criteria could play a role in predicting academic performance in the didactic portion and preclinical component of restorative dentistry.

Novel Remineralizing Agents In Tooth Repair: A Review

A new area of dentistry is represented by remineralizing agents. The aim of modern dentistry is to manage non-cavitated caries lesions non-invasively through remineralization in an attempt to prevent disease progression and improve aesthetics, strength, and function.They can be categorised as fluoride agents, agents made of calcium and phosphate, agents made of herbs, or agents in mixtures. Remineralizing agents can be administered orally by dentifrices, mouthwashes, lozenges, or chewing gum. Fluoride use has been effective in preventing dental caries, but more innovative strategies and exciting new caries prevention products need to be developed and tested. This article provides an overview of various newer reminerlizing agents their role and mechanism of action on tooth

Analysis of effectiveness of the use of multifunctional biopolymers of chitosan and alginate in dentistry ‎

This literature review provides an overview of the research, manufacture, and application of functional biopolymers of chitosan and alginate in dentistry. A total of 93 articles are included in this review. Since no comprehensive reviews in this field have been published yet, the purpose of this article is to assess the current state of research and practical application of functional gels of chitosan and alginate biopolymers in various areas of dentistry. The article includes the most interesti

A scoping review to inform the use of continuous quality improvement in Australian Aboriginal oral health care

Objective The need to improve existing services to Aboriginal communities is prioritised by Australia's National Oral Health Plan. Although only an emerging area in dentistry, continuous quality improvement (CQI) approaches have positively impacted the delivery of primary health services to Aboriginal communities. This scoping review maps the applicability of CQI strategies to Aboriginal Australian oral healthcare services. Methods A scoping review was conducted and studies that reported using CQI approaches to improve existing oral health services or quality of care deemed relevant to Aboriginal Australian communities were included. Results A total of 73 articles were retrieved and eight articles were included in the final synthesis. Several CQI tools were identified, including: plan-do-study-act cycles, dental quality alliance measures, prioritisation matrices, causal mapping and the use of collective impact methodology. Conclusion Data exploring CQI in the context of Aboriginal oral health is scarce. The plan-do-study-act cycle and its variations show potential applicability to Aboriginal oral health care. However, for CQI approaches to be adequately implemented, the prevailing model of dental care requires a paradigm shift from quality assurance to quality improvement, acknowledging the impact of structural and process elements on care.

Magnetic nanoparticles: A novel adjunct for dentistry

Magneticnanoparticles(MNPs), a type of nanocarriers have attracted attention in the area of drug delivery with wide diagnostic and therapeutic applications mainly due its unique physicochemical properties and its ability to function at both molecular and cellular level.The other property of MNPs that have contributed to its popularization is target specific cellular action that reduces the systemic cytotoxicity of the compound. Hence in recent years nanoparticles and magnetic forces are used in dentistry to deliver medications to prevent and treat dental diseases. The MNPs based therapies are very effective against bacterial and fungal pathogens which are resistant to conventional antibiotic therapy. In the area of esthetic dentistry the concept of MNPs has improved the dental material translucency and wear resistance. The use of MNPs in various form of dental drug delivery system has reduced the incidence of dental caries formation and endodontic and periodontal pathologies. The addition of MNPs in dental composite material and dental adhesive has inhibited the biofilm formation. In this chapter, bird’s eye focus on the applications of magnetic nanoparticles in dentistry, its biocompatibility and safety is summarized.

Applications of artificial intelligence in dentistry: A comprehensive review.

To perform a comprehensive review of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in dentistry, providing the community with a broad insight on the different advances that these technologies and tools have produced, paying special attention to the area of esthetic dentistry and color research. The comprehensive review was conducted in MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, for papers published in English language in the last 20 years. Out of 3871 eligible papers, 120 were included for final appraisal. Study methodologies included deep learning (DL; n=76), fuzzy logic (FL; n=12), and other ML techniques (n=32), which were mainly applied to disease identification, image segmentation, image correction, and biomimetic color analysis and modeling. The insight provided by the present work has reported outstanding results in the design of high-performance decision support systems for the aforementioned areas. The future of digital dentistry goes through the design of integrated approaches providing personalized treatments to patients. In addition, esthetic dentistry can benefit from those advances by developing models allowing a complete characterization of tooth color, enhancing the accuracy of dental restorations. The use of AI and ML has an increasing impact on the dental profession and is complementing the development of digital technologies and tools, with a wide application in treatment planning and esthetic dentistry procedures.

Dentist’s Role and Responsible in Identification and Investigation

Background: A dentist is responsible for promoting oral health and disease prevention to make the world a better place in terms of oral health. Besides, the dentist also plays an important role in the forensic field and law enforcement. Forensic odontology is an area of dentistry that deals with the proper management and investigation of dental evidence, which aids in identifying people and the presentation of dental evidence in the interest of justice. Purpose: This article discussed the role and responsibilities of dentists in human identification. Review: The world continues to deteriorate as time passes with much criminality and disasters that cannot be prevented. In many cases, the identification process can be done through the unique characteristics of dentition. Various information such as age, sex, and ethnicity are recorded in the tooth. Forensic dentists are responsible to manage and evaluate tooth evidence. Conclusion: Forensic odontology plays an essential role in determining individual identity. The unique features of dentition provide accurate results in identification if all procedures are correctly employed. With the advancement of science and technology, dentistry may now assist in the identification and investigation of forensic cases.

The Preferences of the Ideal Veneer Smile Design of a Saudi Sample in Riyadh

Esthetic is considered a prime concern for both the practitioners and patients in the area of dentistry. Dentists should thoroughly understand the factors like beauty, harmony, balance, and proportion as are they perceived by the societies while planning treatment. Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate how different gender, age groups, marital status, educational level, and previous cosmetic dental experience of the Saudi dental professionals and the laypersons will influence the selection of an ideal veneer smile design with various shapes of anterior maxillary teeth to their esthetic preferences. Methods: The present survey-based study included 282 dental professionals and lay persons as the sample. The patient and the treating doctor were administered the questionnaire and were further asked to rank the images in terms of score and order of preference. They were asked to put a checkmark on the five cells visual analogue scale (VAS) next to each image to define attractiveness, considering that, on the VAS, one indicated the least attractive and 5 showed the most attractive veneer smile design. Results: Out of 282 participants 106 were male and were 176 female participants. The participant ages were between 16 and 53 years. To find the association between categorical variables, the Mann-Whitney U test was used (with statistical significance set at 0.05). When the responses were compared between the dentist and non-dentist, there was only a statistically significant difference (0.013) for picture 11 among all the 12 pictures responses. Conclusion: The Dental professionals and laypersons showed more similarities than differences when esthetic dental values were considered. Dental professionals were more critical than laypersons. Keywords: Veneer, Dentists, Smile

Рівень санітарно-гігієнічних знань щодо гігієни ротової порожнини в осіб підліткового та юнацького віку, які палять

Numerous studies in recent years have shown that the prevalence of dental disease, periodontal tissue and dental anomalies remains high among children, despite the development and implementation of new prevention and treatment regimens. Thus, the prevalence of dental caries in children in the period of temporary occlusion reaches 80–90%, in the period of permanent occlusion — 70–80%. The prevalence of chronic catarrhal gingivitis in children 12–15 years of age is 70–80%, reaching 95–98% in some regions, and localized and generalized periodontitis – 4.1–16.4%. It is known that the pathogenesis of dental diseases is closely related to the presence of a bad habit — smoking, mostly there is a strict correlation between the intensity and experience of smoking and the emergence and development of pathological changes in various organs and systems, including the oral cavity. Maintaining proper oral hygiene is an important factor influencing the occurrence of periodontal disease. It is known that the formation of oral care skills is formed in childhood, so the study of oral hygiene and the level of hygienic knowledge in adolescents with healthy periodontitis and catarrhal gingivitis in order to further develop a scheme of preventive measures remains one of the most important areas of pediatric dentistry. Purpose — to study the level of hygienic oral care and knowledge in teenagers and young adults who smoke. Materials and methods. The level of knowledge on the observance of individual oral hygiene in 87 people aged 15 to 24 years was studied. The main group included 40 adolescents and young people who smoked, in the comparison group we included 47 people of the same age without a bad habit of smoking. Results. It was found that the majority of all respondents have information on how to properly care for the hygiene of RP, respectively 67.54±3.75% — in the main group, 72.78±4.81% — in the comparison group. However, not all respondents have the full amount of information, as indicated by 23.43±7.51% of adolescents and young people in the main group and 17.86±6.42%. In addition, the individual assessment of their own oral care skills according to the respondents revealed that not all respondents regularly oral care. In the main group only 59.56±4.61% indicated regular oral care, which was 1.4 times less than in the comparison group 81.42±5.73% (p<0.001). Conclusions. It is necessary to conduct additional hygienic training, mandatory reinformation on the risks of dental diseases, in order to form a system of sustainable understanding and awareness of the need for adolescents and young people to observe individual oral hygiene. Particular attention should be paid to aspects of the emergence and rooting of bad habits, namely the bad habit of smoking, both traditional and alternative types of smoking, which adversely affects somatic and dental health, because it is known that without smoking it is impossible to achieve sustainable and long-term results of treatment and prevention measures. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of all participating institution. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interest was declared by the authors. Key words: teenager, young adult, oral hygiene, smoking.

Preparation of basalt fibers grafted with amine terminated urea-based oligomer and its application in reinforcing conventional glass ionomer cement

The purpose of this study was to improve interfacial interaction between basalt fibers (BF) and glass ionomer cement (GIC) matrix with grafting amine terminated urea-based oligomer (DIEDA) onto the surface of BF. The DIEDA-BF was prepared by the reaction between 3-aminopropyl- triethoxysilane (APS) modified BF with Isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and followed with ethylenediamine (EDA). The reaction was repeated to obtain three generations of DIEDA-BF which were marked as DIEDA-BF-G1, DIEDA-BF-G2, and DIEDA-BF-G3, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to characterize DIEDA-BF. 3D morphology analysis was taken to investigate the variation of BF after being treated with EDA. Three-point bending-test, compressive strength (CS) test, and fracture toughness (FT) were used to evaluate the reinforcement effect of DIEDA-BF on commercial GIC (GC Fuji IX). Water sorption (WS) and solubility (SL) were measured according to the mass variation at fixed time intervals. The changes of flexural strength (FS) and modulus (FM) after water immersion were used to evaluate the water-aging resistance of DIEDA-BF reinforced GIC. Pure GIC and APS reinforced GIC (APS-GIC) were used as double control groups. The XPS analysis indicated that DIEDA was successfully grafted onto the surface of BF. 3D morphology analysis revealed that BF could be corroded in EDA, thus DIEDA-BF-G3 had lower N content on the surface than DIEDA-BF-G2. The results of mechanical tests showed that DIEDA-BF-G1 and DIEDA-BF-G2 had the best reinforcement effect. The DIEDA-BF-G1 reinforcement GIC (DIEDA-BF-G1-GIC) was chosen for WS, SL, and water aging resistance test further. The results showed that all fiber reinforced GICs had higher WS than pure GIC, and the relationship in SL between fiber reinforced GICs and pure GIC varied with immersion time. The FS of DIEDA-BF-G1-GIC decreased after one week of water immersion, and had no variation after prolonging the immersion time. After three months of water immersion, DIEDA-BF-G1-GIC still had much higher FS than pure GIC and APS-BF-GIC. DIEDA could improve the interfacial interaction between BF and GIC matrix. After long term of water immersion, DIEDA-BF reinforced GIC still had FS higher than 50 MPa, which even met the ISO requirement in FS for dental resin composite. Therefore, GIC/DIEDA modified BF composite had potential to be used in stress bearing areas in dentistry.

An enhanced CAD system based on machine Learning Algorithm for brain MRI classification

The development of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems in the past decade has led to a remarkable advance in biomedical applications and devices. Particularly, CAM and CAD systems are employed in medical engineering, robotic surgery, clinical medicine, dentistry and other biomedical areas. Hence, the accuracy and precision of the CAD and CAM systems are extremely important for proper treatment. This work suggests a new CAD system for brain image classification by analyzing Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) of the brain. Firstly, we use the proposed Downsized Rank Kernel Partial Least Squares (DR-KPLS) as a feature extraction technique. Then, we perform the classification using Support Vector Machines (SVM) and we validate with a k-fold cross validation approach. Further, we utilize the Tabu search metaheuristic approach in order to determine the optimal parameter of the kernel function. The proposed algorithm is entitled DR-KPLS+SVM. The algorithm is tested on the OASIS MRI database. The proposed kernel-based classifier is found to be better performant than the existing methods.

Um ano de e-mails não solicitados: o modus operandi de revistas e editoras predatórias

Objectives: To quantify, characterize and analyze e-mail from predatory journals (PJ) received by an academic in dentistry. Materials and methods: E-mails received in 2019 and suspected of being potentially predatory were pre-selected. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) checklist was applied to identify the suspected biomedical PJ, including the following criteria: article processing charge (APC), fake impact factor, the journal being listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We also extracted information on the lack of an impact factor on Journal Citations Reports, non-journal affiliated contact e-mail address, flattering language, article and/or personal citation, unsubscribe link, being listed in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) current catalog and indexed on Medline. Results: A total of 2,812 unsolicited suspected e-mails were received, and 1,837 requested some sort of manuscript; among these, 1,751 met some of the OHRI criteria. Less than half (780/1,837, 42%) referred to some area of dentistry. The median APC was US$399. A false impact factor was mentioned in 11% (201/1,837) of the e-mails, and 27% (504/1,837) corresponded to journals currently listed in the NLM catalog. Journals listed in DOAJ and COPE sent 89 e-mails. Conclusions: The email campaign from PJ was high and recurrent. Researchers should be well informed about PJ’ modus operandi to protect their own reputation as authors and that of science.

Liners, bases and varnishes

One of the most controversial areas of restorative dentistry is the subject of liners, varnishes and bases. Currently, there is no single protocol, with respect to the use of liners, varnishes and bases, for clinicians to follow. This article is an in-depth literature review that discusses the use of liners, varnishes and bases and the types of materials that are available to the restorative dentist. The new emerging concept of minimally invasive dentistry will require new restorative techniques. These changes will require the clinician to revaluate their use of liners, varnishes and bases. Other clinical considerations and findings from recent research are discussed.

Study of the etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lesions of dental hard tissues and caries in children

The article discusses the results of the study of etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lesions of dental hard tissues, caries and their complications. The experimental study was carried out at the Department of Dentistry of the Tambov State University named after G.R. Derzhavin, Tambov, for the period from 2019 to 2021 based on the data obtained in the course of dental research of etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lesions of dental hard tissues, caries and their complications. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that its theoretical provisions and the empirical results obtained can be used by dentists for further research in this area of dentistry. The relevance of the study of etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lesions of dental hard tissues, caries and their complications is beyond doubt in modern society. Thus, many aspects of the study of dentistry have found their place in the ontological field of dental problematic, revealing particular and special studies of etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lesions of dental hard tissues, caries and their complications. It can be concluded that the study of etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lesions of dental hard tissues, caries and their complications fell out of sight of researchers for a long time.

Dental Anxiety among Undergraduate Students of a National University in Brunei Darussalam

This study aimed to investigate the nature of dental anxiety among undergraduate students of a national university in Brunei Darussalam. Participants were undergraduate students from different faculties of a national university. It was a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire that included their personal demographics, the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) questions and questions regarding their last dental visit. The degree of anxiety was compared in relation to different factors as mentioned above. Data collected was analyzed using independent t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results showed that the frequency of dental anxiety among the undergraduate students was 70.8%. The mean total MDAS score was 12.3 ± 4.28. Females (13.5±5.12) were more dentally anxious than males (12.2±4.73) (p=0.027). There was a significant difference in the mean MDAS score (p < 0.001) when comparing patterns of dental visits with dental anxiety. More students were fearful of local anesthetic injection than getting tooth drilled. (4) Conclusion: Dental anxiety still remains as one of the obstacles that clinicians face. More studies need to be done to provide a better understanding on how dental anxiety can affect the pattern of dental visits. Future studies should explore the etiology of dental anxiety. This study helps to create awareness on the presence of dental anxiety amongst the existent population group and also to aid clinicians in identifying areas of dentistry where patients are most anxious about in order to come up with a suitable treatment plan.

Editorial: Will Teledentistry Improve Access to and Quality of Dentistry?

Irena Sailer, Editor-in-Chief: Teledentistry is a very interesting new area of dentistry that combines the use of electronic health records, recent telecommunication technology, digital imaging, and the internet to connect health care providers with each other or with patients in rural, less accessible, and/or undeserved regions.^{1</1> Teledentistry is a part of tlelmedicine initiated in 1994 as oart of a military project in the United States– the US Army’s Total Dental Access project. This program had the aim of improving the care of patients, the education of dentists, and the communication between dentists and dental laboratories,² aims that were successfully accomplished. Today, we can consider teledentistry as an important part of the science of telemedicine and a relevant, timely field for ambitious researchers. But what is teledentistry exactly, and how does it work? In simple words, teledentistry is a “real-time consultation” through online computer video telecommunication systems between dentists, hygienists, and/or patients in more remote communities and dentists/specialists in larger communities providing advice and supervision. But this is not the only way teledentistry consultations can be provided. These consultations can also be provided through a “store and forward” method.3 While real-time consultation involves videoconferencing between the involved parties, the “store and forward” method includes an exchange of collected clinical information and images forwarded to a specialist for consultation and treatment plan- ning. A third method described in the literature is the “remote monitoring” method, which involves patients that are monitored at a distance while they are either hospital- or home-based.4 Hence, teledentristry is multifaceted. The scope of teledentistry is certainly to improve access to oral health care and its delivery, as well as to reduce total health care costs. These aims have been subject to several research projects in past years, and numerous investigations have proven these specific benefits in different domains of dentistry, such as oral medicine and diagnosis, oral and maxillofacial sur- gery, orthodontics, periodontics, pediatric and preventive dentistry, and, last but not least, prosthodontics.² In our domain, prosthodontics, teledentistry can become a very powerful tool in the future; eg, to increase the amount of dental specialist treatments in sparsely populated areas. Specialist treatments can become accessible for the most remote parts of the world. The only prerequisite is a strong and stable high-speed internet connection. Another interesting benefit of teledentistry is that it not only has the po- tential to improve the quality of the treatment of patients, it can also serve as an important means to remotely deliver dental education throughout the world—which is truly a strong benefit, as these pandemic times have shown. Online video conferencing, webinars, and online training courses have become a substantial part of dental education since the breakout of COVID-19. An interesting more recent trend are long distance “hands-on” trainings, where participants receive boxes with the required materials and instruments for a certain practical exercise and then watch live online step- by-step demonstrations on how to perform the respective procedure.<sup1} While these are all the numerous benefits of teledentistry, challenges must be considered as well. One challenge is the increased time needed to perform teledentistry types of consultations.1 Furthermore, and more importantly, challenges also include ethical and legal issues that teledentistry may have. The electronic transfer of medical histories and records, as well as clinical images of patients, can raise concerns about the confidential- ity of teledentistry. On the one hand, users of teledentistry have to make sure that patient privacy is not compromised through unauthorized entities; on the other hand, patients should be made aware that their data will be transferred electronically to other professionals through teledentistry, and written consent is therefore advisable. Nevertheless, teledentristry—with its strong benefits of improving the access and delivery of oral health care and its education to anywhere in the world, as well as its potential for the increase of treatment efficiency and the reduction of treatment costs—will become more and more important in the future, and young, upcoming prosthodontic researchers are strongly encouraged to focus on this area. On behalf of the entire Editorial Board team, Irena Sailer Editor-in-Chief REFERENCES 1. Fricton J, Chen H. Using teledentistry to improve access to dental care for the underserved. Dent Clin North Am 2009;53:537–548. 2. Jampani ND, Nutalapati R, Dontula BSK, Boyapati R. Applications of teledentistry: A literature review and update. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent 2011;1:37–44. 3. Reddy KVG. Using teledentistry for providing the specialist access to rural Indians. Indian J Dent Res 2011;22:189. 4. Bagchi S. Telemedicine in rural India. PLoS Med 2006;3:e82.