The development of an online platform to promote customized self oral healthcare
A study that introduces a new strategy to promote customized, oral health self-care by using an online platform to connect dental professionals and patients will be presented at the 101st General Session of the IADR, which will be held in conjunction with the 9th Meeting of the Latin American Region and the 12th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry on June 21-24, 2023, in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Interactive Talk presentation, “An Online Platform to Promote Customized Self Oral Healthcare,” will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023, at 2:10 p.m. Colombia Time (UTC-05:00) during the “Health Promotion and Education” session.
The study by Chloe Meng Jiang of the University of Hong Kong, SAR, China developed an online platform to facilitate patient oral health self-care with guidance from dental professionals, which was soft launched in Hong Kong in March 2020 for pilot testing. The comprehensive online platform integrates online shopping for oral health products with the delivery of up-to-date oral health information and education.
Dentists and dental hygienists can register on the platform for free, while patients can register to use the service through an invitation link sent by the clinic. The platform supplies customized oral health products that are recommended by the dentist/hygienist based on the patient’s oral health condition, and proactive online oral health information and education.
The platform has been on a trial run for more than 20 months. As of November 2022, seven dental clinics and ten dentist/hygienists had registered at the platform. A total of 495 patients had registered and joined as active users. A total of 631 pieces of customized dental care instruction had been distributed to the registered patients by dentists/hygienists through the platform. Patients had logged in 835 times, and more than half of them re-visited the platform. A total of 348 purchases were recorded. The mean amount of transaction per purchase was HKD 441 (around USD 57). The most popular items purchased were toothpaste, dental floss, mouth rinse, and manual toothbrushes.
Based on the preliminary data, the online platform is a promising tool to promote customized oral health self-care among dental patients. It helps to nature positive dental behavior among dental patients by connecting them with dental professionals.
