Social Media's Use and Impact on Oral Surgeons and Oral Surgery Residents

Social networks are now an effective tool in medical communication used in many specialties. It provides wide access to patients and pears communities because the engagement of all age ranges on Facebook and Instagram is growing. More and more training programs are using these platforms to promote themselves to future students, including those in oral and maxilla-facial surgery. But the impact of specialized medical content has never been studied on the population of working practitioners and residents.

In this study, an anonymous online survey was distributed by email to French oral surgeons and French oral surgery residents. The questionnaire was accessible for a period of two months and included questions about demographic data and the professional use of different social networks.

It received a total of 206 participations. All ages and professional statuses were represented. Around two-thirds of respondents were 25 to 35 years old. A large majority of the respondents (86%) had an account on at least one social media site, and 74% of those aged 25 to 35 were present on Facebook and Instagram at least. Residents at 65% affirmed they use social media as a source of medical information, in contrast to academic professors at 30%. This online content had a higher impact on residents' medical experiences compared with other groups. Twenty-nine surgeons declared to post occasionally or regularly on social media; most of them were private practitioners. The role of social media in oral and maxilla-facial surgery practice was judged significant or inevitable by 44.3% of the respondents.

This preliminary survey of a small sample shows the growing interest of interns and young practitioners in medical content published by the professional community on social media as a source of non-institutional information.