Digital surveillance: Monitoring the activity of Internet users searching for information related to early childhood caries

Decoding early childhood caries: an in-depth analysis of YouTube videos for effective parental education

PURPOSE

To assess the coverage of information about early childhood caries (ECC) available on YouTube videos in three different languages, regarding technical characteristics of videos and interaction metrics.

METHODS

Search strategies were developed in English, Spanish, and Portuguese to make a comprehensive collection of videos from YouTube, encompassing 60 samples for each language, regarding all video types. The videos were assessed by a thematic checklist regarding 17 items on ECC. Videos were dichotomized according to the median of the thematic score and the nature of their authorship (health and non-health authors) to compare groups. The statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (version 25.0), applying Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Mann-Whitney U test. P < 0.05 values were considered significant.

RESULTS

Among 120 videos meeting inclusion criteria, ECC aetiology and prevention information proved incomplete, with a median score of 5 (Q1-Q3 = 3-7). No correlation emerged between this score and other video characteristics. However, interaction metrics like views, likes, dislikes, and viewing rates displayed significant correlations. Health authors primarily created these videos, yet non-health author channels had more subscribers. Surprisingly, videos focused on the impact of regular sugary food and beverage consumption on ECC progression received the most attention.

CONCLUSIONS

Videos that presented information about the aetiology and prevention of ECC invariably focused on partial aspects of the disease. This highlights the need for better-quality educational videos and the importance of dental professionals in guiding patients toward reliable sources of information.

Promoting early childhood oral health and preventing early childhood caries on Instagram

Introduction

Early childhood caries (ECC) is prevalent worldwide. Oral health promotion effectively utilizes key messages to educate parents/caregivers and the public on how to prevent ECC. Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms, and could be used to promote early childhood oral health. The purpose of this study was to determine if and how young children's oral health is promoted and supported on Instagram.

Methods

This study used inductive content analysis to categorize, quantify, and interpret pictorial and textual data derived from Instagram posts containing the most commonly used ECC-related hashtags in their captions (determined by an extensive search through Instagram's search bar).

Results

A total of 1,071 images and 3,228 comments were analyzed based on 13 hashtags. The most common types of images were those of people (57.5%) and graphics/memes (37.8%). Most people were older children (32.5%) or adults (20.3%), and were White (19.6%) or Asian (18.5%). A majority of images had people posing (79.1%) in dental clinics (81.3%). Most graphics/memes were instructional/informational (76.3%). A total of 173 posts had substantial discussions that were positive/constructive in nature. The majority of discussions had at least one comment providing advice, tips, or explanations (79.8%), or had users requesting further information (73.4%).

Conclusion

As more people engage with social media, health professionals should consider the potential for Instagram as a tool to promote early childhood oral health and to prevent ECC. Our study shows that many different users are providing and consuming content related to ECC. Targeted messaging, monitoring of content, and professional guidance could be beneficial to those seeking oral health information on this platform.

Effect of the COVID-19 Mitigation Measure on Dental Care Needs in 17 Countries: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis

Objectives

The effect of COVID-19 mitigation measures on different oral health care needs is unclear. This study aimed to estimate the effect of COVID-19 mitigation measures on different types of oral health care utilization needs and explore the heterogeneity of such effects in different countries by using real-time Internet search data.

Methods

Data were obtained from Google Trends and other public databases. The monthly relative search volume (RSV) of the search topics "toothache," "gingivitis," "dentures," "orthodontics," and "mouth ulcer" from January 2004 to June 2021 was collected for analysis. The RSV value of each topics before and after COVID-19 was the primary outcome, which was estimated by regression discontinuity analysis (RD). The effect bandwidth time after the COVID-19 outbreak was estimated by the data-driven optimal mean square error bandwidth method. Effect heterogeneity of COVID-19 on dental care was also evaluated in different dental care categories and in countries with different human development index (HDI) rankings, dentist densities, and population age structures.

Results

A total of 17,850 monthly RSV from 17 countries were used for analysis. The RD results indicated that advanced dental care was significantly decreased (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.47-0.85) after the COVID-19 outbreak, while emergency dental care toothache was significantly increased (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 0.99-2.37) 4 months after the COVID-19 outbreak. Compared to the countries with low HDI and low dentist density, the effect was much more evident in countries with high HDI and high dentist density.

Conclusions

COVID-19 mitigation measures have different effects on people with various dental care needs worldwide. Dental care services should be defined into essential care and advanced care according to specific socioeconomic status in different countries. Targeted health strategies should be conducted to satisfy different dental care needs in countries.