A retrospective observational study published in BMC Oral Health depicted that telemedicine leads to pain reduction and improvement of oral symptoms in people affected by oral diseases. This study was carried out to determine the role of telemedicine visits with respect to managing pain among people with oral diseases.

In this retrospective chart review for all the novel patients seen at their first visit via telemedicine, recording of the patient-reported pain score was done at each visit with the aid of a 0-10 scale. With the aid of Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the differences in oral pain from the initial telemedicine visit to the follow-up visit of the patients were assessed. Overall, 137 new patients (median age 56 years) were incorporated.

If seen in person, the patients would have travelled a median distance of about 65 miles. Reactive/inflammatory lesions were the most common oral conditions seen. A 3-point median pain decrease from the first video visit to the first follow-up and a self-reported 65% median improvement of oral symptoms was noted. Hence, telemedicine provides quality care and plays a valuable role in symptoms management of oral medicine related conditions.