Influence of social media platforms in dental education and clinical practice: A cross-sectional survey among dental trainees and professionals.

Purpose/objectives: Social media platforms (SMPs) have become a popular portal for the acquisition and dissemination of dentistry-related information. The study aims to identify the pattern and influence SMPs for education and practice among dental trainees and professionals.

Method And Materials: A cross-sectional study involving dental trainees and clinical professionals was conducted based on a structured 20-item survey instrument among dental trainees and professionals. The validated questionnaire was circulated among six dental training institutions in India through the internet-based application Google form and achieved a response rate of 60%. The questionnaire focused on identifying the usage of social media in disseminating dentistry-related content. The data from responders were extracted, sorted, and analyzed for descriptive analysis of various factors.

Result: The survey revealed the most common SMP used for dentistry-related content as YouTube. The second most commonly used SMP was Facebook for professionals whereas it was Instagram for younger trainees. There was a highly significant difference between professionals and trainees concerning their sources of new information and the most commonly used SMP for dental education (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: There is a growing consensus among young dental trainees and professionals on SMPs being an effective open access knowledge center. The survey results call for the need for a scientific journal and dental schools to have verified pages in social media to act as flagbearers of evidence-based dental practices. The potentials of SMPs in providing open access information collection to wider viewership across the globe and being a digital archive in attractive audio-visual forms can be used to strengthen the conventional educational model and improvise clinical practice.