Background: Twitter is a powerful platform which could be used to reflect on the demand and supply of dental services during a pandemic. The aim of this study was to examine the nature and dissemination of COVID-19 information related to dentistry on Twitter platform Arabic database during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: One hundred and fifty independent searches with a combination of keywords for both COVID-19 and dentistry from a preselected Arabic keyword were carried out for the period from the 2nd of March (first confirmed cases of COVID-19) to the 6th of July 2020. Tweets were filtered to remove duplicate and unrelated tweets. The suitable tweets were 1,150. After calibration, two examiners coded the tweets following two main themes: COVID-19 and oral health-related information. Tweets were then compared with COVID-19 daily events in the Arab countries as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Descriptive analysis was performed to present the overview of the findings using Microsoft Excel.Results: The most retweeted information was the help with urgent consultation or emergency dental treatment during COVID-19 tweeted by a dentist. There were 673 retweets and 1,116 likes of this tweet. The most common tweets related to oral health were needs of dental treatment (n=462, 39.5%) of which, toothaches or wisdom tooth problems constituted 48% of the related tweets. Conclusion:Based on the results of this study, it is obvious that social media users reacted to the COVID-19 threat to dental practices. Twitter as one of the social media platforms served as a connection between dental health professionals and patients.

No abstract

Objective To enumerate students who accepted/would accept treatment by dental student peers (DSP), describe characteristics of DSP and explore factors associated with determining DSP treatment. Methods A 17-item online survey was distributed to students of all levels (383) at Taibah University Dental College and Hospital during the academic year 2019–2020. The survey comprised three sections: section one asked questions about the students’ demographics and socioeconomics (family income), section two focused on the acceptance of treatment by DSP, characteristics of DSP, and section three asked about factors influencing acceptance of treatment by DSP. The collected data underwent descriptive, bivariate and logistic regression analyses. Results Of 383 students, 222 (58%) completed the survey; 72 (32%) were at an intern level and 150 (68%) at other levels. Those who had accepted/would accept treatment by DSP comprised 88% of respondents. Performance (85.4%) and quality of treatment (85.5%) were important characteristics of DSP. The multivariable analysis revealed that increase in score rates of confidence in DSP was significantly associated with acceptance of treatment, odds ratio (OR)=1.89, 95% CI: (1.48–2.43), p<0.001. Similarly, students who had a better understanding of patients’ management were more likely to accept treatment by DSP (OR=2.70, 95% CI: 1.05–6.96, p=0.039). Conclusion A high percentage of students had accepted/would accept treatment by DSP. These findings also suggest that students who have confidence in DSP and those who understand patient management would accept oral health care by DSP.

No abstract

Background: Twitter is a powerful platform which could be used to improvise the demand and supply of dental services during a pandemic. Objective:The aim of this study was to examine the nature and dissemination of COVID-19 information related to dentistry on Twitter platform Arabic database.Methods: One hundred and fifty independent searches with a combination of keywords for both COVID-19 and dentistry from a preselected Arabic keyword were carried out for the period from the 2nd of March to the 6th of July 2020. Tweets were filtered to remove duplicate and unrelated tweets. The suitable tweets were 1,150. After calibration, two examiners coded the tweets following two main themes: COVID-19 and oral health-related information. Tweets were then compared with COVID-19 daily events in the Arab counties as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Descriptive analysis was performed to present the overview of the findings using Microsoft Excel.Results: There was no obvious association between time distribution of the tweets to the distribution of new COVID-19 cases and deaths during the period from March 2, 2020 to July 6, 2020. The most retweeted information was the help with urgent consultation or emergency dental treatment during COVID-19 tweeted by a dentist. There were 673 retweets and 1116 likes of this tweet. The most common tweets related to oral health was needs of dental treatment (n=462, 39.5%) of which, toothaches or wisdom tooth problems constituted 48% of the related tweets. Conclusions:Twitter is a platform reflecting the public interest and concerns, based on the finding tweets tend to increase with major events and news and thus help navigate the proper action needed to address public concern.