Letter

COVID-19 Pandemic: Need for Teleconsulting Module in Dental Education

This letter is in response to the urgent need for incorporating a teleconsulting module in dental education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Broadly speaking, dentistry is viewed as a strict “handson” profession. But in reality, diagnostic work-up, prescription of medicines, referrals and follow-ups can be done via teleconsulting without delaying or degrading patient care. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted health care practices and students in training in the educational institutions. Consequently, a surge in the use of teleconsulting to deliver patient care has been observed globally. Unfortunately, this does not hold true for most of the dental students who have been crippled in delivering patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. This could have been prevented, in part, if students had already been introduced to teleconsulting during their education.

That said, the need for integrating a teleconsulting module into the dental school curriculum is apparent and cannot be overemphasized.

Chitra P. Emperumal, BDS, MS, and GlennT. Clark, DDS, MS, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC