Aims: Due to the fact that the use of social media, smartphones and other virtual measures have become widespread in today`s societies, this scoping review aimed to investigate the association between using internet based media and oral health promotion in children.
Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in three electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar) for relevant articles published between 2019 and 2024. The articles were limited to the full text published literature, which included cross sectional, interventional, and observational study. Inclusion criteria for studies were use or assess the association of every type of social media, smart phone application and internet game for improving oral health children or their parents. Studies on children with any systemic problems were excluded. Ethical clearance was granted by ethics committee, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Results: A total of 28 studies were included. Studies were from, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Egypt (3), Germany (2), India, Indonesia, Iran (3), Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherland, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, UK and USA (4). All studies concluded that social media (9), smart phone application (16), internet, Web-base and Websites (8), Chat bot (1) and Smartphone camera (1), can have a positive effect on children`s oral health and increase parent`s awareness.
Conclusions: In the population studied in this scoping review, children’s and their parents’ motivation to use internet and virtual media for health information was evident. It is important for those who provide paediatric health care to both understand and accommodate this permanent shift from traditional oral health care to that facilitated by social media, smartphone and virtual games when working with parents who are seeking health information for their children.
