Dear editor,

Commonly, dental care is characterized by contact with patients, especially their upper airways. Due to the advances of COVID-19, the routine of dental offices was enormously affected and elective services were temporarily suspended, being performed only emergence and urgency procedures. As saliva is a potential transmission vehicle for SARS-CoV-2¹1. Meng L, Hua F, Bian Z. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Emerging and Future Challenges for Dental and Oral Medicine. J Dent Res 2020: 99(5): 481-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022034520914246
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/... ^,22. Sabino-Silva R, Jardim ACG, Siqueira WL. Coronavirus COVID-19 impacts to dentistry and potential salivary diagnosis. Clin Oral Invest 2020: 24: 1619-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-020-03248-x
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... , dentists have resorted to alternative solutions to avoid aerosol production by high-rotating equipment and to minimize the impact caused by the pandemic.

For that reason, teledentistry, which is an information and communication resource with the potential to improve the quality of dental health care, has gained space for both dental professionals and patients. It enables oral care and health attention in remote areas, in addition to allowing professionals to identify the high-risk groups and provide prompt service when necessary, consequently reducing the waiting lists³3. Estai M, Kanagasingam Y, Tennant M, Bunt S. A systematic review of the research evidence for the benefits of teledentistry. J Telemed Telecare 2018; 24(3): 147-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X16689433
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/... .

In emerging countries like Brazil, teledentistry represents an alternative to offer good quality telemonitoring, especially for people most in need at an affordable cost. This tool has been imminently used in public health services, with good experiences of telemedicine programs in primary care around the world, including Brazil with Telehealth, an initiative of the Ministry of Health of Brazil that provides Teleducation actions. In this scenario, specific services were created to support the study of oral lesions⁴4. Carrard VC, Roxo Gonçalves M, Rodriguez Strey J, Martins MAT, Martins MD, Schmitz CA, et al. Telediagnosis of oral lesions in primary care: The EstomatoNet Program. Oral Dis 2018; 24(6): 1012-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/odi.12851
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/... .

This year, the Brazilian Federal Council of Dentistry published Resolution No. 226, which addresses the remote dental practice. Considering the Law 5,081/66, which regulates the exercise of dentistry, the resolution determines the prohibition of technology-mediated dental consultations for diagnosis, prescription, and treatment plan elaboration⁵5. Conselho Federal de Odontologia. Resolução CFO-226, June 4, 2020 [Internet]. Conselho Federal de Odontologia; 2020 [accessed on Jun 20, 2020]. Available at: Available at: http://sistemas.cfo.org.br/visualizar/atos/RESOLU%c3%87%c3%83O/SEC/2020/226
http://sistemas.cfo.org.br/visualizar/at... . Regarding the dentist-patient relationship, remote care and telemonitoring of patients are only admitted when patients undergoing treatment are unable to return to the office, or a teleorientation carried out by the clinician to decide the best time to perform face-to-face assistance⁶6. Georgakopoulou EA. Digitally aided telemedicine during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to screen oral medicine emergencies. Oral Dis 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/odi.13383
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/... .

During the pandemic, with distance measures ruling, and imminent risk of contamination by SARS-CoV-2, patients have shown constant apprehension regarding their safety and the quality of dental service. Additionally, most of our patients depend exclusively on public health services, such as oral oncologic attention, periodontal care, oral hygiene, and routine appointments. For this group of patients, continuous appointments are vital. Therefore, some measures such as the inclusion of voice and video calls, in the interval between face-to-face consultations, may represent an ideal temporary solution to avoid aggravations and decompensations of the patients’ health status, ensuring frequent remote monitorization³3. Estai M, Kanagasingam Y, Tennant M, Bunt S. A systematic review of the research evidence for the benefits of teledentistry. J Telemed Telecare 2018; 24(3): 147-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X16689433
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/... .

Carrard et al.⁷7. Carrard VC, Martins MA, Molina-Bastos CG, Gonçalves MR. WhatsApp: a telemedicine platform for facilitating remote oral medicine consultation and improving clinical examinations-some considerations. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2017; 123(3): 408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oooo.2016.09.228
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... highlight that the use of WhatsApp mobile application by oral medicine patients has shown expressive success rates. In Greece, Georgakopoulou⁵5. Conselho Federal de Odontologia. Resolução CFO-226, June 4, 2020 [Internet]. Conselho Federal de Odontologia; 2020 [accessed on Jun 20, 2020]. Available at: Available at: http://sistemas.cfo.org.br/visualizar/atos/RESOLU%c3%87%c3%83O/SEC/2020/226
http://sistemas.cfo.org.br/visualizar/at... achieved good results with telehealth in her private dental clinic, even bringing in new patients. Machado et al.⁸8. Machado RA, de Souza NL, Oliveira RM, Martelli Júnior H, Bonan PRF. Social media and telemedicine for oral diagnosis and counselling in the COVID-19 era. Oral Oncol 2020; 105: 104685. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oraloncology.2020.104685
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... reinforce the usefulness of mobile applications for telemonitoring patients.

In conclusion, telecommunications strategies are suitable for scenarios such as the one we are currently facing. Furthermore, it is believed that the telemonitoring tool for dentists and patients will become popular over time, and advances in this area will likely consolidate this resource, taking it to the daily routine of dental professionals.

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