Social media and orthodontics: Are our patients scrolling?

Abstract

Social media can be engaging, accessible and versatile, and has been shown to be effective at improving patients' knowledge regarding orthodontic treatment. As such, it may be used as a valuable tool for information provision to engage orthodontic patients. Awareness of the availability of orthodontics content on social media is increasing; however, only one-third of participants had previously used it to aid with orthodontic treatment. Given the availability of information on social media targeted at orthodontic patients there is a need to assess the quality of this information and if appropriate navigate patients towards high-quality, effective resources.