Teledentistry in rural California: a USC initiative.

Dentistry, in a synergistic combination with telecommunications technology and the Internet, has yielded a relatively new and exciting field that has endless potential. "Teledentistry" emerges from the fusion of dental practice and technology and can take on two forms--real-time consultation and "store and forward." The first entity to put teledentistry into practice was the Army, which, in 1994, successfully undertook consultations between dentists and service personnel located more than 100 miles apart.