Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags.

Area of Science:

• Oral Hygiene and Public Health
• Digital Marketing and Consumer Behavior
• Social Media Analytics

Background:

• Toothbrushing and toothpaste selection are crucial for oral hygiene and caries management.
• Social media platforms significantly influence consumer perceptions and purchasing decisions regarding oral care products.
• Understanding the impact of platforms like Instagram on toothpaste selection is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze toothpaste-related content on Instagram.
• To identify characteristics of top-performing toothpaste posts.
• To understand the influence of social media on consumer toothpaste choices.

Main Methods:

• Collected data from "Top 12 posts" for relevant hashtags on Instagram.
• Analyzed post characteristics: likes, followers, content type, poster role, theme, and account type.
• Identified poster roles (dentist, patient, dental interest group) and analyzed data using SPSS (p<0.05).

Main Results:

• Analyzed 1,054,985 posts; #Toothpaste was most frequent, #ToothpasteNatural least.
• Promotional posts (61.1%) outnumbered educational posts (38.9%), with marketing as the main theme.
• Educational content received higher engagement (likes/views, comments); dentists and patients favored educational content, while groups/companies preferred promotional content.

Conclusions:

• Instagram significantly influences toothpaste selection, with a prevalence of promotional content.
• Despite higher engagement, educational content is less frequent than promotional content.
• There is a need for improved oral health education through stricter regulations and increased dental professional involvement online.