Analysis of oral health-related behaviours in children's programmes on a streaming platform

To evaluate the representation of oral health in children's programmes available on a streaming platform.

An infodemiological and observational study was conducted in December 2024 in Brazil, including the 30 most-viewed children's programmes in the Netflix catalogue available in Brazil. All scenes containing verbal or visual mentions of the dentist, oral hygiene practices, or risk behaviours related to oral health were included. Two calibrated researchers (Kappa > 0.80) collected variables related to context, characters, behaviours, and scene duration. Data were analysed descriptively and using chi-square test for linear trend and Mann-Whitney test (α = 5%).

70% of the programmes featured oral health-related behaviours, of which 84.8% were risk behaviours exclusively associated with sugar consumption. Most scenes combined visual and verbal elements (73.9%), displayed positive valence (72%), and were performed by good (93.5%) and predominantly human (56.2%) characters. Facial expressions were predominantly cheerful, both amongst characters (70.5%) and dentists (85.7%). Patient behaviour was cooperative in 85.7% of the scenes. A significant association was found between character nature and positive valence (p = 0.009).

The analysed children's programmes predominantly portrayed oral health risk behaviours, especially sugar consumption, often associated with positive characters. Thus, stricter interventions and regulations are needed to protect children from harmful exposure across entertainment platforms.