Teledentistry in dental specialist education in Finland

Abstract

Specialist dental services are available unevenly in Finland. A project to implement information and communication technologies in dental specialist education started in 2002 and was concluded in 2005. University lectures were transmitted to various training locations using IP-based videoconferencing (384 kbit/s–1 Mbit/s). Lectures and seminars were carried out on average twice a week. 17 of the 26 postgraduate students answered a questionnaire in which they rated the quality of picture and sound on a 4–point scale. The overall rating of videoconferencing as a tool in specialist training was excellent in 15%, good in 62%, neutral in 15% and poor in 8%. In the absence of teledentistry, the trainees needed to travel to the University of Turku approximately 80 times each year. Over a three year training period (one year in university, two years in other cities), the overall potential cost saving per student was estimated to be at least €43,600.