Apps for Promoting Children's Oral Health: Systematic Search in App Stores and Quality Evaluation

The Use of Internet of Things (IoT) Technology to Promote Children's Oral Health: A Scoping Review

Dental treatments and oral health promotion are now more mobile and versatile thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT)-based healthcare services. This scoping review aims to compile the available data and outline the aims, design, assessment procedures, efficacy, advantages, and disadvantages of the implementation of IoT to improve children's oral health. Articles for this review were gathered from PubMed, Scopus, and Ebscohost databases to identify and construct the keywords and primary research topic. The selected studies were published between 2000 and 2022 and focused on children aged 1 to 18 and/or parents/caregivers of children who received oral health promotion and/or dental disease preventive treatments utilizing the IoT. Each study topic required data extraction. A total of nine papers were included in this review. Two of the nine publications were quasi-experimental, while the remaining six papers were randomized control trials. The nine papers considered in this appraisal have a range of interventions and follow-up periods. Mobile-Health (m-Health), home healthcare, hospital/clinical management, and electronic-Health applications (e-Health) are the most common IoT architecture used as interventions. Three studies assessed oral health knowledge and behavior scores, whereas the bulk of studies (6/7) used m-Health treatments focusing on dental plaque buildup as well as gingival health evaluation to assess oral hygiene. IoT is one of the mediums or instruments that might be used to encourage children's dental health. The studies suggest that the use of IoT could help in improving oral hygiene and oral health, which can further improve children's oral health.

Time Efficiency, Reliability, and User Satisfaction of the Tooth Memo App for Recording Oral Health Information: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study

BACKGROUND

Digitalizing oral health data through an app can help manage the extensive data obtained through oral health surveys. The Tooth Memo app collects data from oral health surveys and personal health information.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the evaluate the time efficiency, reliability, and user satisfaction of the Tooth Memo app.

METHODS

There are 2 sections in the Tooth Memo app: oral health survey and personal oral health record. For the oral health survey section of the Tooth Memo app, different data entry methods were compared and user satisfaction was evaluated. Fifth-year dental students had access to the oral health survey section in the Tooth Memo app during their clinical work. The time required for data entry, analysis, and summary of oral health survey data by 3 methods, that is, pen-and-paper (manual), Tooth Memo app on iOS device, and Tooth Memo app on Android device were compared among 3 data recorders who entered patients' information on decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth (DMFT) index and community periodontal index (CPI), which were read aloud from the database of 103 patients by another dental personnel. The interobserver reliability of the 3 different data-entering procedures was evaluated by percent disagreement and kappa statistic values. Laypeople had access to the personal oral health record section of this app, and their satisfaction was evaluated through a Likert scale questionnaire. The satisfaction assessments for both sections of the Tooth Memo app involved the same set of questions on the app design, usage, and overall satisfaction.

RESULTS

Of the 103 dental records on DMFT and CPI, 5.2% (177/3399) data points were missing in the manual data entries, but no data on tooth status were missing in the Android and iOS methods. Complete CPI information was provided by all 3 methods. Transferring data from paper to computer took an average of 55 seconds per case. The manual method required 182 minutes more than the iOS or Android methods to clean the missing data and transfer and analyze the tooth status data of 103 patients. The users, that is, 109 fifth-year dental students and 134 laypeople, expressed high satisfaction with using the Tooth Memo app. The overall satisfaction with the oral health survey ranged between 3 and 10, with an average (SD) of 7.86 (1.46). The overall satisfaction with the personal oral health record ranged between 4 and 10, with an average (SD) of 8.09 (1.28).

CONCLUSIONS

The Tooth Memo app was more efficacious than manual data entry for collecting data of oral health surveys. Dental personnel as well as general users reported high satisfaction when using this app.

Evaluation of Endo 10 mobile application as diagnostic tool in endodontics

Background

Endodontic diagnosis can be compared to a puzzle, requiring the interpretation of a series of clinical and imaging data. Mobile health, especially mobile application (apps), can assist professionals in endodontic diagnosis. This work aims to evaluate an app - Endo 10 app, designed to assist pulpal and periapical diagnosis based on the patient's signs and symptoms and radiographic data.

Material and Methods

A total of 41 dental students and dentists with different levels of expertise (10 multi-specialty clinic professors, 17 residents in endodontics and 14 dental students) were included. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was used to evaluate usability and the Davis' technology acceptance model was used to evaluate usefulness of Endo 10 app. The Mann-Whitney test was performed to compare SUS scores between professors and undergraduate dental students and to compare questions 6 and 7 of the utility test and verify whether participants who understood that the technology was useful also better understood the concepts of endodontic diagnosis. The agreement between professor's diagnosis with the app and professor without the app, and between professor and residents in endodontics with the app were evaluated.

Results

The SUS score at the 50th percentile was 77.5, graded as acceptable. No significant difference was observed in the SUS scores when analyzing professors and dental students separately (p = 0.442). Usefulness test showed positive responses ranging between 72% - 100%. No statistically significant difference was observed between questions 6 and 7 of the utility test (p = 0.206), indicating that the group of participants who understood that the technology was useful in endodontic diagnosis was associated with the agreement that the application helped to better understand the concepts related. The diagnosis agreement between professor in the common diagnosis process and professor with app was 100% (31) of cases. The concordance between professor and residents in endodontics with the app was 71% (22) of cases. The differences were associated with resident's misinterpreting the patient's data.

Conclusions

The Endo 10 app reached the usability and usefulness requirements. It proved accurate in diagnosing pulpal and periapical pathologies. Key words:Dental education, endodontics, diagnosis, smartphone, dental informatics.