Critical appraisal of the information available on traumatic dental injuries found in applications

Traumatic dental injuries (TDI) are a public health problem and the search for information becomes essential to help in their management. The aim of this study was to search existing TDI applications (Apps) to critically describe the characteristics and main information found in them regarding TDI.

Searches were performed in the Play Store (Android) and App Store (iOS), using MeSH terms, synonyms and terms related to dental emergencies and TDI, in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Apps with information on the management of post-TDI emergencies or TDI prevention were included. The type of operating system (Android/iOS), cost (free/paid), target audience (dentist/patient), age of classification (free/>17 years old), language, star rating (1★ to 5★), number of downloads and post-download ratings, type of dentition (primary/permanent), reference used for classification according to TDI type and management (International Association for Dental Traumatology/Andreasen/others/not reported), and available content (prevention/emergency management/preservation/illustrations) were evaluated.

Among 486 apps, 13 were eligible: 11 for Android and 2 for iOS. Most were free (92.3%), for patients (38.4%) and had a free age classification (90.9%). The main language was English (53.8%), and most of the Apps either had no information on star ratings (46.1%) or received 4★ (23.1%). The number of downloads was not reported (23.1%) or was fewer than 100 (23.1%). Most of the Apps were for permanent teeth (61.5%) and had explanations about dental management for TDI emergencies (92.3%) and multiple TDIs (61.5%). Most Apps addressed the importance of monitoring TDIs (76.9%) and contained illustrative images (76.9%). However, many did not report the TDI classification (46.1%), and 38.5% reported TDI prevention.

Information on dental trauma management according to dental injury, inclusion of images, target audience, type of TDI and their prevention varied in the available Apps. However, most were focused on permanent teeth and addressed several TDI in English language only.