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Effect of mHealth Interventions on Oral Hygiene and Oral Health Behavior in Children From Infancy to Adolescence: A
Nivedita Saxena1, Pragati Kaurani2, Nikhil Marwah3
1Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Mahatma Gandhi Dental College and Hospital, Jaipur, India.
Background:
The pooled evidence on the effectiveness of recently developed mHealth interventions that can improve oral hygiene and oral health behavior in children and adolescents is weak.
Aim:
To provide an analysis of the effectiveness of mHealth interventions in improving oral hygiene and oral health behavior of children from infancy to adolescence.
Design:
Electronic search in five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane) along with websites and gray literature was performed till February 2025. Two independent reviewers selected eligible studies based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria out of which 12 studies were included. Qualitative analysis was done for oral health behavior and meta-analysis was performed for measuring oral hygiene. Risk of bias, and certainty of evidence assessment were performed.
Results:
Overall, mHealth interventions showed statistically significant effects on both gingival and plaque index (p < 0.05) but an insignificant effect in gingival index in adolescents (p = 0.22). While improvements in oral health behavior were observed in infants and children, these interventions proved ineffective among adolescents.
Conclusion:
While m-Health interventions have proven effective in improving oral hygiene and oral health behaviors in children, their impact on adolescents remains limited. Consequently, there is an imperative need to develop more engaging and adolescent-specific mHealth interventions.
Trial Registration:
PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023443484.
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