183 - Teledentistry Experience of Caregivers at a Children’s Hospital Dental Clinic

Purpose: To evaluate caregiver experience and impact on health equity for teledentistry visits compared to in-person clinical visits.

Methods: Caregivers of children aged 0-21 years old who attended a teledentistry synchronous video consultation or in-person clinic exam visit between July 2024 and January 2025 were administered a survey with Likert style questions within 72 hours of their visit. Caregivers who did not speak English were excluded. The mean scores were calculated for the survey responses. Additional statistical analysis was conducted for demographic characteristics, including the Childhood Opportunity Index, by conducting Fisher's Exact test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Chi-square test.

Results: Surveys completed by caregivers of teledentistry visits (n=58) and in-person clinic exam (n=48). Caregivers in the teledentistry group showed a higher level of agreement to future video visits vs in-person caregivers (p <.05). Medicaid was the most common insurance type. The patients in the teledentistry group were largely white (83%) males (59%) and the majority without an associated behavioral diagnosis (53%). The patients in the in-person exam group were largely white (71%) males (51%) and the majority with a behavior diagnosis (56%). There were no statistically significant differences associated with patient race, ethnicity, sex, age, behavioral diagnosis, or Childhood Opportunity Index score between the two groups. Mapping data was generated for patients in both groups with further distance and travel analysis to be conducted.

Conclusions: Teledentistry group caregivers showed a higher level of agreement to future video visits than those in the in-person group.