Impact of social media on the oral hygiene habits of children and adolescents: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

ABSTRACT

This study compared the impact of conventional oral health education with that of combined conventional and digital education on the oral hygiene outcomes and habits of children and adolescents. A double-blind, parallel, randomized controlled prevention clinical trial with 2 arms involved 80 students aged 10 to 17 years old. Students were randomly allocated to the control group (n = 40), which received conventional oral health education, or the experimental group (n = 40), which received both conventional oral health education and digital educational content through WhatsApp Messenger. Before the randomization of the groups and after the conclusion of the educational interventions, 2 examiners (κ > 0.7) who were blinded as to the groups evaluated the students and recorded the Plaque Index (PI); Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI); number of decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth (DMFT); and number of decayed, missing, and filled primary teeth (dmft). The toothbrushing and flossing habits of the students were evaluated through questionnaires. The Fisher exact test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test for paired samples, and sign test were applied to the data (α = 0.05). After 3 students in the control group were excluded because they received fixed orthodontic appliances, 37 students participated in the control group and 40 in the experimental group. Both groups presented a 30% reduction in PI (P < 0.001) after the interventions. The experimental group flossed significantly more frequently (P = 0.003) than the control group. The interventions had no statistically significant effect on GBI, and there were no significant differences in toothbrushing frequency after interventions or between groups. Both approaches to oral health education-conventional and digital-had a positive impact on the reduction of the PI, and the use of a smartphone app seemed to be an effective resource for providing oral health education to students. Trial registration Registro Brasileiro de Ensaios Clinicos (ReBEC) No. U1111-1216-4770.