Have Smartphones Contributed in the Clinical Progress of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?
BACKGROUND
Dental surgeons who encounter complex situations, such as those in unscheduled care, often have limited resources to provide a structured and specialty care. Therefore, there is always a need for cost-effective, easy to handle, easy to carry "Smartphones".


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this paper was to undertake a review of literature on "Smartphone in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery" online data-base and discuss the case series with emphasis on the role of attending dental surgeon and the maxillofacial surgeon.


METHODS
The available literature relevant to oral and maxillofacial surgery in online data-base of the United States National Library of Medicine: PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) was searched. The inclusion criterion was to review the published clinical papers, abstracts and evidence based reviews on 'Uses of Smartphone in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery'.


RESULTS
Six articles were found with the search term "Smartphone in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery" in the literature searched. Five articles met the inclusion criteria for the study. The relevant data was extracted, tabulated, and reviewed to draw evidence-based conclusions for uses of smartphone in oral and maxillofacial surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Utilization of smartphones in oral and maxillofacial surgery facilitate in differential diagnosis, treatment, follow up, prevention of the disease further and thereby improve the quality of patient care without requiring the presence of the maxillofacial surgeon in remote areas.
Assistant Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Implantology, Government Dental College and Hospital , Ahmedabad, India .
Jigar M
JM
Dhuvad
Private Practiconer, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Implantology, Ahmedabad, India .
Mukesh M
MM
Dhuvad
Professor and Head, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Implantology, Bharati Vidyapeeth Dental College and Hospital , Pune, India .
Rajesh A
RA
Kshirsagar
Dental surgeon (dentist); Emergency opinion; Mobile Apps; Whatsapp