Apprehension of dental treatment and awareness of virtual dental consultation among rural population in Karnataka during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Background: The goal of “Health for All” initiated by WHO envisions securing the health and well-being of people across the globe. SARS-COV-2 coronavirus discovered in December 2019 is said to cause severe pneumonia characterized by fever, cough, shortness of breath and was declared as a global pandemic by WHO. In India the second wave of coronavirus has caused lot of problems with hospitals and medical facilities overwhelmed. WHO and CDC has recommended several biosafety measures and guidelines due to high risk of contamination during dental care. Covid-19 pandemic risk and lockdown measures to curtail the transmission has led to suspension of dental healthcare to the public in many places. Teleconsultation/ Telehealth refers to interactions that happen between a clinician and a patient for the purpose of providing diagnostic or therapeutic advice through electronic means. Teledentistry a subunit of telehealth can be used in routine dental practise to avoid unnecessary exposure of the healthy subjects to the suspects and to decrease the possibility of transmission in dental office. Methodology: A quantitative dichotomous cross-sectional questionnaire survey will be conducted among the rural population. The study population will be chosen randomly among rural population. Only adults will be considered in the survey. Researcher made Questions will be given to the participants in hard copy. The questions will include the Demographic data, Gender, accessibility of dental set up and dentists and awareness of dental tele-consultations. Data obtained will be utilised to assess the accessibility of dental treatment for the public and mode of dental tele consultation preference among rural population. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of concerns regarding the safety during dental procedures. Since the risk of transmission is high due to the very nature of the procedure, assessing the awareness in rural population is crucial. Teledentistry can play a key role in bridging the dental issues and the accessibility of dentists. Proper protocol about its usage with training about it to the dental professionals would be advised. Further steps are required to create awareness about it in the rural population.