Social media and dentistry: some reflections on e-professionalism

Area of Science:

• Digital health education
• Professional ethics in dentistry

Background:

• Digital technology is transforming healthcare professional training.
• Social media use by medical and pharmacy students reveals risks to professional practice.
• General Dental Council guidelines highlight potential professional conduct breaches for dental professionals via social media.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the dual role of social media in supporting and undermining dental professionalism.
• To identify barriers to social media awareness within the dental profession.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and analysis of existing guidelines on social media use in healthcare.
• Exploration of potential impacts based on current research trends.

Main Results:

• Social media offers avenues to both enhance and compromise dental professionalism.
• A significant gap exists in primary research concerning the social media behavior of dental students and practitioners.
• Lack of research hinders the development of targeted social media awareness initiatives in dentistry.

Conclusions:

• There is a need for increased research into the social media behavior of dental professionals.
• Further discussion is required to understand social media's evolving influence on dental professionalism in the 21st century.