Effectiveness of Mobile App Interventions to Improve Periodontal Health: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Periodontal health plays a key role as a shared reference point for evaluating periodontal diseases and identifying significant treatment outcomes. Providing adequate instruction and enhancing the motivation of patients to maintain proper oral hygiene are crucial factors for successful periodontal treatment, with self-performed regular oral hygiene identified as a critical factor in improving the outcomes of treatment for periodontal diseases. Recently, mobile health (mHealth) solutions, especially mobile apps, have emerged as valuable tools for self-management in chronic diseases such as periodontal disease, providing essential health education and monitoring capabilities. However, the use of mHealth apps for periodontal health is complex owing to various interacting components such as patient behavior, socioeconomic status, and adherence to oral hygiene practices. Existing literature has indicated positive effects of mHealth on oral health behaviors, knowledge, attitude, practice, plaque index score, and gingivitis reduction. However, there has been no systematic review of mobile apps specifically targeting patients with periodontal disease. Understanding the design and impact of mHealth apps is crucial for creating high-quality apps.

Objective: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of existing mobile apps in promoting periodontal health.

Methods: A comprehensive search strategy will be performed in multiple electronic databases (PubMed, EBSCOhost, CINAHL Plus, Dentistry & Oral Sciences, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) with the following keywords in the title/abstract: "mobile application," "mobile health," "mHealth," "telemedicine," "periodontal health," "periodontitis," and "text message." Only randomized controlled trials will be included that assessed the following outcomes to measure periodontal health improvement: gingival index, bleeding index, periodontal pocket depth, and clinical attachment loss. Covidence will be used for data collection, and a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart will be used to describe the selection process of the included, identified, and excluded studies. The Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis approach will be used for meta-analysis of the extracted data from the included studies.

Results: This review will not require ethical approval since no primary data will be included. As of July 2024, a total of 83 articles retrieved from various databases have been imported to Covidence with 13 articles deemed eligible for inclusion in the review. The review is currently ongoing and is expected to be complete by the end of 2024 with the results published in early 2025.

Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis will contribute to developing mobile apps with enhanced criteria to improve periodontal clinical outcomes. The review emphasizes the importance of mHealth and preventing periodontal disease, which can set the stage for informed global health care strategies.

Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42022340827; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=340827.

International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/50479.