Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Teledentistry among Dental Practitioners during COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Protocol and Registration
2.2. Search Strategy
2.3. Study Selection
- Awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practice towards teledentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- General dentists, dental specialists, dental educators, or postgraduate dental students;
- Cross-sectional study;
- No limit to any country;
- No limit to any language.
- Articles that fulfilled the following exclusion criteria were omitted:
- Expert opinions, reviews, case reports or case series, letters to the editor, short communications
- Studies performed before March 2020 (as the pandemic was announced by WHO in March 2020)
- Full text unavailable
2.4. Data Extraction
2.5. Risk of Bias Assessment and Level of Evidence
2.6. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Study Selection
3.2. Study Characteristics
3.3. Risk of Bias Assessment and Level of Evidence
3.4. Statistical Analysis
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Categories | Coefficient | Confidence Intervals | Standard Error | p-Value | |
Upper Bound | Lower Bound | ||||
Awareness | 0.729 | 0.700 | 0.757 | 0.015 | 0.001 * |
Knowledge | 0.533 | 0.321 | 0.745 | 0.108 | 0.001 * |
Attitude | 0.771 | 0.743 | 0.798 | 0.014 | 0.001 * |
Practice | 0.319 | 0.098 | 0.540 | 0.113 | 0.004 * |
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Study | Year | Country | Study Design | Sample Size | Gender | Mean Age | Evaluation Tool | Evaluation Criteria | Response Rate | Main Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plaza-Ruiz et al. [3] | 2021 | Colombia | cross-sectional | 5370 (2252 GD, 2589 DS) | F: 3878, M: 1492 | 45 | questionnaire | awareness, attitude, practice | 16.84% | Knowledge and practice of teledentistry increased since the emerging of COVID-19. |
Abbas et al. [7] | 2020 | Pakistan | cross-sectional | 510 (GD, PGDS, DE, DS) | n/a | n/a | questionnaire | knowledge, awareness, attitude | 100% | Awareness regarding teledentistry is high among general dentists. |
Subhan et al. [4] | 2021 | Pakistan | cross-sectional | 350 (GS, DS) | F: 151, M: 174 | n/a | questionnaire | awareness, knowledge, attitude | 92.80% | Most of the dental professionals had inadequate knowledge about teledentistry before COVID-19, but their awareness and perception were currently satisfactory. |
Zahra et al. [15] | 2020 | Pakistan | cross-sectional | 172 (GD, DS, PGDS) | F: 95, M: 61 | n/a | questionnaire | knowledge, awareness, practice | 90.62% | In total, 76.6% participants had knowledge of teledentistry, but 80.8% had never used it. |
AlAssad et al. [8] | 2021 | Saudi Arabia | cross-sectional | 102 (PGDS, GD) | F: 39, M: 63 | n/a | questionnaire | knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and practices | 78.50% | Adequate knowledge and awareness of teledentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Save et al. [16] | 2020 | India | cross-sectional | 151 (GD, DS) | F: 99, M: 52 | 25.72 | questionnaire | knowledge | 100% | Only 43% of the participants were aware of teledentistry. |
Study | Domains | Overall Appraisal | LOE | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
Plaza-Ruiz et al. [3] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Include | 3 |
Abbas et al. [7] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Include | 3 |
Subhan et al. [4] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Include | 3 |
Zahra et al. [15] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Include | 3 |
AlAssad et al. [8] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Include | 3 |
Save et al. [16] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Include | 3 |
Study | Year | Participants | Awareness | Knowledge | Attitude | Practice |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plaza-Ruiz et al. [3] | 2021 | GD, DS | (3368/5370) | n/a | (3198/5370) | (2284/5370) |
Abbas et al. [7] | 2020 | GD, PGDS, DE, DS | (369/510) | (327/510) | (375/510) | n/a |
Subhan et al. [4] | 2021 | GD, DS | (223/325) | (242/325) | (261/325) | n/a |
Zahra et al. [15] | 2020 | GD, DS, PGDS | (120/156) | (66/156) | n/a | (21/156) |
AlAssad et al. [8] | 2021 | PGDS, GD | (75/102) | (66/102) | (79/102) | (53/102) |
Save et al. [16] | 2020 | GD, DS | n/a | (65/151) | n/a | n/a |
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Lin, G.S.S.; Koh, S.H.; Ter, K.Z.; Lim, C.W.; Sultana, S.; Tan, W.W. Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Teledentistry among Dental Practitioners during COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Medicina 2022, 58, 130. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010130
Lin GSS, Koh SH, Ter KZ, Lim CW, Sultana S, Tan WW. Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Teledentistry among Dental Practitioners during COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Medicina. 2022; 58(1):130. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010130
Chicago/Turabian StyleLin, Galvin Sim Siang, Sze Hui Koh, Karyn Zuhuan Ter, Chia Wei Lim, Sharmin Sultana, and Wen Wu Tan. 2022. "Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Teledentistry among Dental Practitioners during COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" Medicina 58, no. 1: 130. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010130