Title: Social media impact on self-perceived oral health practices among patients visiting tertiary care hospital in India
Abstract:
Background: Social media is widely used in the medical field, and people often utilize it to learn about their symptoms prior to consulting with a healthcare professional. Hence, the study aims to investigate the influence of social media on self- perceived oral health practices among patients.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was adopted, with a questionnaire comprising 15 closed-ended questions. The sample size was estimated to be 451 participants based on the findings from the pilot study. The face validity of the questionnaire was assessed by a subject matter expert (0.83%), and the reliability was measured using Kappa statistics (0.86). The percentile was determined to assess the overall self-perceived oral health practices of the participants. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and multivariate regression analysis at statistical significance (p ≤ 0.05).
Results: The majority of participants belonged to urban areas (66.5%), with an average age of 38.19 ± 6.70. The participants in urban 184 (61.3%) and rural 102 (67.5%) believed that social media provided better knowledge regarding oral health, which was statistically significant (p = 0.046). The majority of the participants, 267 (59.2%), spent more than 30 minutes to 3 hours per day on social media. It was found that participants who possessed professional occupations had increased odds of having good oral health practices on social media (p = 0.043).
Conclusion: The participants believed that social media provided better knowledge regarding oral health, and self-perceived practices among the participants were found to be poor. Social media platforms provide new educational possibilities in the dentistry sector, but their potential is neglected and unappreciated.
Audience Take Away:
A greater understanding of self-perceived oral health status could lead to improvements in oral health services and oral health nationally. Social media platforms provide new educational possibilities in the dentistry sector, but their potential is neglected and unappreciated.
