Consistency and Validity of a Telediagnosis Method in Orthodontics

The use of teledentistry in orthodontics has evolved in recent years, accelerated by the social distancing of the coronavirus pandemic, and now driven by the desire on the part of practitioners to improve the sustainability of the profession and by consumer demand to improve access to care and reduce the costs associated with access to specialist services. This is especially true of Western Australia which is a vast State with patchy access to specialist care. This article demonstrates that a physical examination of 46 patients attending a remote orthodontic clinic 600 km from the metropolitan centre of WA, and a review of clinical photographs of the same patient, can achieve an 80% concordance utilizing very simple tools such as a point-and-shoot camera.