Dental trauma in social media—Analysis of Facebook content and public engagement

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIM: Social media sites such as Facebook are increasingly used to obtain healthcare-related information. The aim of this study was to examine Facebook content on dental trauma and to assess public engagement with this content. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An anonymous account was created to search Facebook for information on dental trauma using the key words "dental trauma," "broken tooth," "tooth fracture," and "tooth trauma" over a period of 1 year (from February 27, 2017, to February 27, 2018). The content was analyzed with regard to demographic characteristics, topic domains, and public engagement. RESULTS: A total of 395 Facebook pages and 149 groups were identified, but only one page and two groups met the inclusion criteria. There were 329 posts on dental trauma during the study period. More than half of the posts were event advertisements and personal highlights (56.2%), followed by posts mentioning articles in academia (17.9%). The average yearly engagement rate was 0.25%; news posts generated the highest engagement rate (0.76%), while academic posts generated the lowest engagement rate (0.16%). The singular post that generated the highest engagement rate (2.2%) was a news post referring to a dental trauma incident suffered by a professional football player. Only 14 posts (4.3%) contained information on prevention and immediate management of dental trauma. CONCLUSIONS: Facebook information on dental trauma is limited in quantity and quality. More emphasis should be placed on posting information suitable for the layperson and concerned with the basics of prevention and immediate management of dental trauma.

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