Page 32 - FINAL COMPENDIUM 2020-2021 27.2.2022

AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF TELE DENTISTRY AMONG
DENTAL PRACTITIONERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND
META-ANALYSIS

Lin GSS, Koh SZ, Ter KZ, Lim CW, Sultana S, Tan WW
Objectives: This systematic review aims to appraise and analyse the awareness,
knowledge, attitude, and practice of tele dentistry among dental practitioners during the
COVID-19. Materials and methods: This review was registered in the PROSPERO database
(CRD42021283404). Cross-sectional articles on the dental practitioners’ perceptions
towards tele dentistry published between March 2020 to September 2021 were searched
in ten online databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, ScienceDirect,
Cochrane, EMBASE, SIGLE, EBSCO, LILACS, and Open Grey). The Joanna Briggs Institute
critical appraisal tool was employed to analyse the risk of bias (RoB) of each article,
whereas the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine recommendation tool was used
to evaluate the level of evidence. Data were analysed using the DerSimonian-Laird
random effect model based on a single-arm approach. Results: Six studies were included
and demonstrated Level 3 evidence. A single-arm meta-analysis revealed that dental
practitioners had a high level of awareness (70.4%) and attitude (72.5%) towards tele
dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their knowledge level (57.9%) was moderate
with a poor practice level (35.8%). A substantial heterogeneity was observed with the
overall I2 ranging from 90.78% to 98.21%. Furthermore, meta-regression indicated that
the sample size of each study had a significant (P<0.05) impact on the degree of data
heterogeneity. Conclusion: Despite their high degree of awareness and attitude, dental
practitioners demonstrated moderate knowledge and relatively poor practice of tele
dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic. More well-designed studies are warranted to
investigate the alternatives for enhancing dental practitioners' knowledge and practice of
tele dentistry interventions.

Published in Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Jan;58(1):130. doi: 10.3390/medicina58010130
Galvin Sim Siang Lin Koh Sze Hui
Department of Dental Materials Puchong Dental Clinic
Faculty of Dentistry Ministry of Health Malaysia
Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia
(AIMST) University
Bedong, Kedah, Malaysia Chia Wei Lim
Taman Intan Clinic
Karyn Zuhuan Ter Ministry of Health Malaysia
KK2 Batu Pahat Clinic Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia
Ministry of Health Malaysia
Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia Wen Wu Tan
Department of Dental Public Health
Sharmin Sultana Faculty of Dentistry
Department of Orthodontics Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology
Faculty of Dentistry (AIMST) University
Manipal University College Malaysia (MUCM) Bedong, Kedah, Malaysia
Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia

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