286 - Teledental Appointments In the Pediatric Population

Teledental Emergencies in the Pediatric Population

Purpose:   The primary objective of this study is to determine if patients returned for follow up visits after teledental consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study addressed the following question: For pediatric dental patients under 18 who participated in teledental appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic, was there a difference in the number of follow up appointments attended based on the type and severity of the patient’s dental emergency.

Methods: Data was collected from 159 charts which had either procedure code D9995 or D9996 completed between March 11-December 31, 2020. The study data was collected from the subject’s EDR and transferred to an electronic database.

Results: The results of the study showed that for pediatric dental patients who had teledental visits, most of those visits were regarding the chief complaint of pain and/or infection (69% p< .001), and out of those visits, the percent of patients that returned for follow up visits and received definitive treatment were 68% for pain and 85% for infection.

Conclusions: Based on the study’s results, pain and infection were the reasons for the majority of patients seeking a teledental visit during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most of those patients requiring at least 1 in-person clinic visit for definitive treatment. Further studies should evaluate the cost-effectiveness and best use for teledental visits moving forward.