A Comparison of Teledentistry vs Clinical Examination for Treatment Needs Assesment

Dental caries is one of the most common chronic diseases in children and may require complex dental treatment, especially in preschool-aged children. Because young children may have limited ability to cooperate during dental procedures, determining the urgency of treatment and the need for behavior guidance is an important part of treatment planning. Teledentistry may provide an alternative method for the initial assessment of children who have difficulty accessing dental care. Through video calls and/or clinical photographs, dentists may be able to obtain information about the child's oral health status, pain complaints, treatment needs, and expected cooperation before an in-person visit. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the agreement between teledental examination and conventional clinical examination in preschool children. The study will compare the treatment needs identified during teledental examination with those identified during clinical examination. Treatment needs will be classified as urgent or elective. The study will also compare the recommended type of behavior guidance, categorized as non-pharmacological or pharmacological, between the two examination methods. Healthy children aged 4 to 6 years who attend their first dental examination appointment and have no special care needs will be included after parental consent is obtained. Each child will undergo both a clinical examination and a teledental examination. During both examinations, data on pain complaints, dental caries experience, treatment needs, and predicted cooperation during dental treatment will be recorded using standardized forms. The study hypothesis is that teledental examination will show acceptable agreement with clinical examination in identifying urgent and elective dental treatment needs and in determining the recommended type of behavior guidance in preschool children.

Inclusion Criteria: * Children without any systemic mental or physical disorders * Children not using medication for psychiatric reasons * Children without diagnosed learning or comprehension difficulties (e.g., attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) * Children without an indication for general anesthesia due to any other medical procedure * Children without transportation barriers to access the healthcare facility Exclusion Criteria: * Children whose parents/legal guardians refuse to sign the informed consent form * Children from families lacking the necessary equipment for video-based teleconferencing * Children whose parents/legal guardians do not consent to participation in video consultations