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Abstract A new term e-dentistry or tele-dentistry is getting popularity these days in e-health which uses electronic processes and communication for the transfer of dental health resources and health-care by electronic means. Practice of e-dentistry is not adequate in Pakistan. The main objective of the study was to assess Knowledge and Attitude of Dentists towards tele-Dentistry in Pakistan.
The data were collected through the self designed questionnaire. Study sample (n=155) included 92 males and 63 females. Mean age of male respondents was 29.575.3 years and the mean age of female respondents was 29.25.3 years.
According to the results of the study 37.4% respondents reported "yes" about knowledge about e-health. 23.9% reported "yes" about the knowledge of Open Dental or Free Dental software. 13.5% respondents had knowledge about the databases used now a days. 72.3% didn't mention any use of e-health. 30.3% respondents had attended seminar on e-health. No respondent had practiced tele-dental health. 38.1% respondents agreed for practicability of e-health. 39.35% respondents reported that tele-dentistry can be practiced in Pakistan. 21% respondents recommended some areas where tele-dentistry can be applied.
There are still significant gaps in the facts between where e-health is used and where its use is supported by high-quality evidence. Tele-dentistry has a potential to benefit the Pakistan's healthcare system in terms of preventive care and disease treatment.
Key Words: Communication, e-dental health, Healthcare, Tele-dentistry Knowledge, Practice.
INTRODUCTION An innovation been made in the field of health for saving lives in the remote regions of any country. This innovation is the e-health. e-Health is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health care. It is recognized as one of the most rapidly growing areas in health today. Being member of WHO, Pakistan had to develop strategy and plan for e-health but it is still considered a new concept here and situation of telemedicine and e-health policy is very alarming here in contrast of 55% of the member states of WHO.1 E-health is broadly used in many fields of health like Electronic health records Electronic medical records,2-4 Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE),5,6 e-Prescribing,7-9,2) clinical decision support,10 telemedicine,11 consumer health informatics,12 health knowledge management, Virtual healthcare teams, mHealth or m-Health,13 medical research using Grids and Healthcare Information Systems.14 Public health monitoring has...