Impact of smartphone application usage by mothers in improving oral health and its determinants in early childhood: a randomised controlled trial in a paediatric dental setting

M Shirmohammadi; S Razeghi; A R Shamshiri; S Z Mohebbi

doi:10.1007/s40368-022-00731-9

Impact of smartphone application usage by mothers in improving oral health and its determinants in early childhood: a randomised controlled trial in a paediatric dental setting

Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2022 Aug;23(4):629-639. doi: 10.1007/s40368-022-00731-9. Epub 2022 Jul 16.

Authors

M Shirmohammadi^{1

2}, S Razeghi^{1

2}, A R Shamshiri^{1

2}, S Z Mohebbi^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. smohebbi@tums.ac.ir.
⁴ Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. smohebbi@tums.ac.ir.

Abstract

Purpose: Integration of smartphones has overcome barriers in traditional education; this trial aimed at exploring this ubiquitous platform in oral health education. A smartphone application promoting preschooler's oral health was designed and its effectiveness was compared with that of common oral health education delivered in paediatric dental settings.

Methods: This controlled clinical trial was performed on preschooler-mother dyads referring to the clinic of Tehran School of Dentistry in 2019-2020. Initially, the dyads were randomly partitioned to application intervention or common training groups. The mothers answered an interviewer-administered questionnaire on paediatric dentistry knowledge, attitude and practice regarding children's oral health; modified plaque index (m-PI) and modified gingival index (m-GI) of children were measured. Subsequently, the smartphone application was installed for application intervention group and an educational pamphlet and verbal explanations were given to common training group. In 1-month and 3-month follow-ups, the questionnaires and clinical measurement were re-done. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to investigate the effect of training methods.

Results: Among the participants 51 dyad attended baseline and follow-up assessments. The preschoolers mean age was 4.6 ± 1.2 years and 54.4% were girls. Both trainings improved mothers' knowledge and practice regarding children's oral health and reduced children's m-PI and m-GI (p < 0.050). The 3-month follow-up revealed a better m-GI in application intervention group (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Considering the greater improvement of paediatric gingival status in the application intervention group, it appears that smartphone applications may provide a promising tool for more prolonged impacts in children oral health care.

Trial registration: IRCT, IRCT20131102015238N3. Registered 28 July 2019 https://en.irct.ir/trial/40933.

Keywords: Application; Mother; Oral health; Preschooler; Smartphone.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Iran
Male
Mothers* / education
Oral Health* / education
Smartphone

Associated data

IRCT/IRCT20131102015238N3

Grants and funding

41979/Tehran university of medical science