The Trend of Children's Dental Health Information-Seeking Behaviors on Social Media: A narrative review

The growth in social media use and the increase in children's dental health information on social media may facilitate behavior change and improve children's dental health outcomes. Children's dental health information-seeking behaviors are the way in which parents seek information about their children's dental health. Social media has recently become the primary source of information for parents with varying information needs about children's dental health. Parents with certain children's dental health concerns can receive informational support on social media for making children's dental health-related decisions. They may learn from the experience of other parents with the same concern, including details of diagnosis, self-medication, treatment options, and recommended dentists and dental clinics. However, rapid information transmission on social media may lead to an increased volume of misinformation. This evidence calls for efforts to combat misinformation on social media and improve parents' ability to find reliable children's dental health information sources on social media. This article highlights the use of social media to search for children's dental health information has been increasing.