Outreach Officer, University of Portsmouth Dental Academy, Faculty of Science, Portsmouth, UK.
Reader in Integrated Dental Education and Multi-professional Care, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, King's College & St Thomas' Hospitals, St Thomas' Street, London Bridge, London, and the University of Portsmouth Dental Academy, Faculty of Science, Portsmouth, UK.
Br Dent J. 2019 Aug;227(3):217-222. doi: 10.1038/s41415-019-0593-z.
Aim The aim of the study was to investigate: i) the geographical reach and reaction of the online participants engaging in an oral health campaign 'National Smile Month' UK 2016 (NSM); and ii) whether dental practices during NSM were using Twitter to help address regional oral health inequalities.Methods Twitter posts, that is 'tweets', were collected using the application programming interface (API) software Mozdeh, for one month. Tweets were classified into high, medium or low engagement. Participants' postcode data of the organisation/practice were obtained via an internet search using Google. The geolocation of tweets was then linked by organisations' postcode to the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation and the oral health survey of five-year-olds 2014/15, and subsequently mapped using Google Fusion Tables.Results A total of 23,100 tweets were captured with a final total of 2,968 usable tweets from 763 separate accounts. Two hundred and twelve tweets were from dental practices, with 107 classified as low engagement, 99 medium, and 45 high engagement (39 of those tweets were from organisations allied to oral health). Interactive maps were created to give a visual representation of the relationship between those participants producing 'high' impact tweets and the level of dental decay in five-year-olds and deprivation levels.Conclusion The majority of tweets did not promote any specific preventative behaviour. Dental practices in England were not contributing to National Smile Month via Twitter in a way that would improve regional oral health inequalities. In areas of high-need there is evidence of proactive engagement with NSM via Twitter by local authorities and their healthcare partners.
目的 本研究旨在调查：i）参与“英国 2016 国家微笑月”（NSM）口腔健康运动的在线参与者的地域覆盖范围和反应；ii）在 NSM 期间，牙科实践是否使用 Twitter 来帮助解决区域口腔健康不平等问题。
方法 使用 Mozdeh 应用程序编程接口（API）软件收集一个月内的 Twitter 帖子，即“推文”。将推文分为高、中或低参与度。通过使用 Google 进行互联网搜索，获取组织/实践的参与者邮政编码数据。然后，通过组织的邮政编码将推文的地理位置链接到 2015 年多重剥夺指数和 2014/15 年五岁儿童口腔健康调查，并使用 Google Fusion Tables 进行映射。
结果 共捕获了 23,100 条推文，最终从 763 个单独的账户中获得了 2,968 条可用推文。有 212 条推文来自牙科实践，其中 107 条被归类为低参与度，99 条为中参与度，45 条为高参与度（其中 39 条推文来自与口腔健康相关的组织）。创建了互动地图，以直观地展示产生“高”影响力推文的参与者与五岁儿童龋齿程度和贫困程度之间的关系。
结论 大多数推文并未促进任何特定的预防行为。英格兰的牙科实践并没有通过 Twitter 参与国家微笑月，以改善区域口腔健康不平等。在高需求地区，有证据表明地方当局及其医疗保健合作伙伴通过 Twitter 积极参与 NSM。
