A Review on the Effectiveness of Teledentistry in Mental-Health Care

Objectives: The aim of this study was to review the literature in Pubmed and Medline on the effectiveness of teledentistry on oral health-related outcomes in mental-health care.
Methods: Articles published until 26th of September 2022 were included. An information specialist helped creating the search strategy. The search strategy in Medline and Pubmed was: ((("Telemedicine"[Mesh] AND ("Dentistry"[Mesh] OR "Oral Health"[Mesh])) OR teledentist*[tiab] OR "tele-dentist*"[tiab]) OR (Teledentistry)) AND ("Mentally Ill Persons"[Mesh] OR "Mental Disorders"[Mesh] OR "Mental Health"[Mesh] OR "Mental Disorder*"[tiab] OR "Psychiatric Ill*"[tiab] OR "Psychiatric Diseas*"[tiab] OR "Mental Ill*"[tiab] OR "Psychiatric Disorder*"[tiab] OR "Behavior Disorder*"[tiab] OR "Psychiatric Diagnosis"[tiab] OR SMI[tiab] OR "Mental health*"[tiab] OR "Mental hygien*"[tiab].). The review included effect studies (including RCT, CCT, and quasi experimental designs).
Results: Two studies were identified of which none was included in this review. Since no studies on teledentistry in mental-health care were identified, we broaden the scope of our research question and included all humans, i.e. patients and health care providers. A comprehensive search strategy was carried out in seven databases. The preliminary results of this comprehensive systematic search showed that teledentistry has been effective in different settings, however no effect studies on teledentistry in mental-health care were identified.
Conclusions: Although, teledentistry has shown promising results in people with reduced access to care, it is unknown whether teledentistry is applicable and effective in mental health care. We will discuss the findings of teledentistry in general setting and give recommendations for future research. This study shows that there is a need for studies assessing the effectiveness of teledentistry on oral health in individuals with severe mental illness.