TY - JOUR
T1 - Improvements in dental care using a new mobile app with cloud services
AU - Lin, Chia Yung
AU - Peng, Kang Lin
AU - Chen, Ji
AU - Tsai, Jui Yuan
AU - Tseng, Yu-Chee
AU - Yang, Jhih Ren
AU - Chen, Min Huey
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - Background/Purpose: Traditional dental care, which includes long-term oral hygiene maintenance and scheduled dental appointments, requires effective communication between dentists and patients. In this study, a new system was designed to provide a platform for direct communication between dentists and patients. Methods: A new mobile app, Dental Calendar, combined with cloud services specific for dental care was created by a team constituted by dentists, computer scientists, and service scientists. This new system would remind patients about every scheduled appointment, and help them take pictures of their own oral cavity parts that require dental treatment and send them to dentists along with a symptom description. Dentists, by contrast, could confirm or change appointments easily and provide professional advice to their patients immediately. In this study, 26 dentists and 32 patients were evaluated by a questionnaire containing eight dental-service items before and after using this system. Paired sample t test was used for statistical analysis. Results: After using the Dental Calendar combined with cloud services, dentists were able to improve appointment arrangements significantly, taking care of the patients with sudden worse prosthesis (p<0.05). Patients also achieved significant improvement in appointment reminder systems, rearrangement of appointments in case of sudden worse prosthesis, and establishment of a direct relationship with dentists (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our new mobile app, Dental Calendar, in combination with cloud services, provides efficient service to both dentists and patients, and helps establish a better relationship between them. It also helps dentists to arrange appointments for patients with sudden worsening of prosthesis function.
AB - Background/Purpose: Traditional dental care, which includes long-term oral hygiene maintenance and scheduled dental appointments, requires effective communication between dentists and patients. In this study, a new system was designed to provide a platform for direct communication between dentists and patients. Methods: A new mobile app, Dental Calendar, combined with cloud services specific for dental care was created by a team constituted by dentists, computer scientists, and service scientists. This new system would remind patients about every scheduled appointment, and help them take pictures of their own oral cavity parts that require dental treatment and send them to dentists along with a symptom description. Dentists, by contrast, could confirm or change appointments easily and provide professional advice to their patients immediately. In this study, 26 dentists and 32 patients were evaluated by a questionnaire containing eight dental-service items before and after using this system. Paired sample t test was used for statistical analysis. Results: After using the Dental Calendar combined with cloud services, dentists were able to improve appointment arrangements significantly, taking care of the patients with sudden worse prosthesis (p<0.05). Patients also achieved significant improvement in appointment reminder systems, rearrangement of appointments in case of sudden worse prosthesis, and establishment of a direct relationship with dentists (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our new mobile app, Dental Calendar, in combination with cloud services, provides efficient service to both dentists and patients, and helps establish a better relationship between them. It also helps dentists to arrange appointments for patients with sudden worsening of prosthesis function.
KW - Cloud computing service
KW - Dental care
KW - Mobile app
KW - Telemedicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922650006&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jfma.2014.02.009
DO - 10.1016/j.jfma.2014.02.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 24796822
AN - SCOPUS:84922650006
VL - 113
SP - 742
EP - 749
JO - Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
JF - Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
SN - 0929-6646
IS - 10
ER -