Increasing access to health care using telehealth and medical-dental integration strategies

Abstract

Background

Telehealth is a technology in medicine designed to facilitate the delivery of healthcare services remotely. These obviously, are lacking in resource-limited areas. A holistic approach to health care does not take out the mouth as an integral part of the body but unfortunately, the inclusion of oral health care in Primary Healthcare is still stalling in many countries. Complete and equitable healthcare access in resource-limited areas is facilitated by government policies, the presence of trained capacities, and the procurement of facilities to make the Primary Healthcare centers functional and viable for expert consultations, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring.

Purpose

This topic projects Telehealth as an important 21st-century telecommunication technology for increasing access to healthcare in resource-limited areas and medical-dental integration concerted efforts as an approach to providing holistic healthcare intervention.

Methods

Journals and online publications were searched for this review. Search engines used were Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic, ProQuest, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE. Also, online libraries were used to confirm if someone else has done a review on the topic.

Result

The effectiveness of Telehealth and medical-dental integration strategies have been tested and proven to improve interprofessional collaboration and serve as the comprehensive and integrated care plan to reduce healthcare inequality in resource-limited areas. These strategies are already adopted in many countries and that improves the outcome of their healthcare strategic goals of the countries.

Conclusion

The use of Telecommunication technologies in dentistry and general medicine are an effective approach to the professional delivery of healthcare services to resource-limited areas with little or no limits. Medical dental integration is another concerted strategy for reducing oral health inequality at all levels of the health care system.