Acceptance of Teledentistry by Brazilian Dentists

The aim of this study was to investigate the opinions of Brazilian dentists regarding the use of Teledentistry. The instrument used was a closed response-based questionnaire consisting of 17 questions. The questionnaire was given to 227 professionals in the five macro-regions of Brazil. The research was approved by the Ethics in Research committee at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. The results indicated that most dentists were interested in using the resources of Teledentistry (81.0%). However, only 11.5% of the dentists had access to such technology. The supposed high cost of the technology was cited by 60.3% of the respondents as negative factors associated with the use of Teledentistry. The overall conclusion shows that Teledentistry resources and its costs must be more widely promoted in Brazil, for dentists and their patients to fully benefit from this emerging tool.