Acceptability of teledentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia

• Register: ISRCTN
• Last refreshed on: 28 June 2021
• Main ID: ISRCTN29153109
• Date of registration: 14/06/2021
• Prospective Registration: No
• Primary sponsor: Umm al-Qura University
• Public title: Acceptability of teledentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia
• Scientific title: Validity, knowledge, attitude, perception and challenges of using teledentistry among dental patients in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic: a randomized clinical trial
• Date of first enrolment: 17/02/2021
• Target sample size: 102
• Recruitment status: Ongoing
• URL: http://isrctn.com/ISRCTN29153109
• Study type: Interventional
• Study design: Parallel-group single-blind randomized controlled trial (Diagnostic)
• Phase: Not Applicable

Countries of recruitment

Saudi Arabia

Contacts

• Name: Khalid Aboalshamat

Key inclusion & exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria:
1. Adult over 18 years of age
2. Arabic speakers living in Saudi Arabia
3. Have smartphone and social media apps (WhatsApp), with a valid contact number to use for communication during the tele-dental consultation
4. Agree to participatee in the intervention and answer all the questionnaires

Exclusion criteria:
1. Patients with hearing problems
2. Did not approve to participate in the trial and did not sign the consent form


Age minimum:
Age maximum:
Gender: Both

Health Condition(s) or Problem(s) studied

Teledentistry
Oral Health

Intervention(s)

Randomization is conducted using software to randomly divide the participants into the study group and the control group.

In the study group, the participants are contacted via a WhatsApp social media platform and are given a video demonstrating how to take a proper intraoral photograph. Then they are asked to take five intraoral pictures and send them via WhatsApp. The WhatsApp social media platform is used because of the end-to-end encryption to preserve patient confidentiality. Then the research team have a teledentistry session with the participant. The session is a phone call for about 10 minutes. The first three minutes include questions about past dental history helping the data collector to collect information about the chief complaint and medical history. The next 3 minutes investigate the Decayed, Missing, Filled (DMF) index for each tooth and oral hygiene status. Further information is discussed with the participant in regards to what was found in the sent pictures to clarify anything that cannot be visualized. This discussion also asks about their last dental visit, other dental symptoms, and past dental procedures to help with assessment. After that, the data collector discusses with the participant his/her chief complaint with an emergency evaluation and initial recommendation in simple language. The rest of the session is for the participant’s questions and concerns. After that the participant receives a self-report questionnaire to assess their knowledge, attitude, perception, challenges toward teledentistry and their impression from the teledentistry experience.

The control group receive a self-report questionnaire to assess their knowledge, attitude, perception, challenges toward teledentistry without

Primary Outcome(s)

1. The validity of using teledentistry for diagnosis measured using dental records and clinical examination at baseline and follow up visit (between 1-3 months)
2. The knowledge, attitude, perceptions and challenges of using teledentistry measured via questionnaire at baseline and follow up visit (between 1-3 months)

Secondary Outcome(s)

There are no secondary outcome measures

Secondary ID(s)

HAPO-02-K-01 2-2021-O1-521

Nil known

Source(s) of Monetary Support

Investigator initiated and funded

Ethics review

Status:
Approval date:
Contact:

Approved in 10/01/2021, Umm Al-Qura University Institutional Review Board (Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, 24352, Saudi Arabia; [phone]; [e-mail]), ref: HAPO-02-K-012-2021-01-521

Results

• Date Completed: 27/07/2021