Practicing dentistry in the age of telemedicine

Background. This article examines teledentistry and some fits current legal issues, Topics include licensure, malpractice, technology and ethics Gener al recommendations for the dental practitioner are included. The literature review includes state and federal laws, the Telemedicine Report ta Congres s and numerous articles (both printed and electronic) associated with the t opic; Sources were selected for timeliness and relevance to legal issues an d implications of telemedicine/teledentistry for the dental practitioner. Conclusions, Numerous issues require resolution before telemedicine and tel edentistry will truly realize their enormous potential to increase access t o health care while decreasing health care costs. These issues include inte rstate licensure, jurisdiction and mal-practice, as well as technological, security and ethical questions, Practice Implications. Telemedicine teledentistry are relatively new to the dental field. Many of the legal issues reviewed have yet to be resolved by the legislature or the courts. Furthermore, technology has not yet progres sed to the point where the practitioner can be certain that no technologica l failure will occur during a teledental consultation. In spite of these pr oblems, the potential of telemedicine and teledentistry is tremendous. Impr ovement in accessibility of health care and lowered health care costs are o nly two of the many advantages that will emerge as telemedicine and teleden tistry become integrated with, and fundamentally change, the practice of me dicine and dentistry.