Computing and Oral Health: Mobile Solution for Collecting, Data Analysis, Managing and Reproducing Epidemiological Research in Population Groups

Abstract

Epidemiological inquiries study and evaluate the health status of the population. For dental caries, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the DMFT and DMFS indexes, which represent the sum of the decayed, missing and filled teeth, divided by the population studied. Traditionally these surveys are conducted using cellulose paper sheet. This study describes the development and presents the field performance of NutriOdonto, a software created for an Oral Health Survey carried out in 2018 and 2019 involving 2578 students from the municipal schools of Palmas/TO, located in the Brazilian Amazon region. This is a descriptive, applied research on the development of a software for the collecting, analysis, management and reproducibility of oral health epidemiological research. A software applied to the collecting, analysis and formation of the database was developed through the information obtained from the questionnaires applied to the participants of the study and the completion of the electronic oral examination form. Recent Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are intelligently configured to create models and mobile applications (Apps) that can be useful to manage health issues, thus broadening the perspective of service provision in this sector. Some of these mobile devices, tablets and smartphones are being developed to generate information, for collection, recording, storage and analysis of oral health epidemiological research data. NutriOdonto contributed to the rapid collection, recording and storage of information, in the construction of the database and its analysis. Replacing paper forms with electronic forms minimized possible typos, reduced the use of cellulose paper and the financial costs, among other things. This software can contribute to decision making by managers and professionals and to improving the planning and implementation of actions in health promotion and oral disease prevention.

Electronic Health Records in Dental Education: A Scoping Review and Quantitative Analysis of Publications

“…The use of electronic health records may replace papers in dental schools but those institution must always provide patients an electronic copy of data recorded in EHRs, complying with the Privacy Rule by an e-mail or any other electronic way [17,25]. Other advantages of EHRs implementation are documentation quality and reduction of medical errors [77].…”

“…Reed, et al, reported an interesting comparison between students (n = 386) before and during the EHRs utilization, which it may impact positively student's critical thinking associated with diagnostic system terminology [70]. Quality of information and care may also be improved utilizing dental record system by planning actions in oral diseases prevention and health promotion and clinical decision support [17,67].…”

Веб-Орієнтований Застосунок Ведення Дентальної Хроніки Для Запису І Аналізу Стану Ротової Порожнини

“…The presented developments in this field can be classified according to the following categories such as reference books [1], educational as well, those that remind you of brushing your teeth [2], those that teach you to brush your teeth [3][4][5], questionnaires [6][7][8], those that aimed at managing the dental journal and planning the work process [9,10], diet diaries [11]. There is the latest study that use an artificial intelligence to detect dental diseases using the analysis of panoramic images in real time [12].…”

Smart Oral Health: A Mobile Application for Dental Caries and Oral Hygiene Self-examination

“…Previous research has developed a smartphone application for measuring the DMF-T index and the Community Periodontal Index (CPI). 2 However, the development of mobile dental application tailored specifically for on elementary schoolchildren in Indonesia is still limited. Existing mobile applications mostly emphasize dental knowledge elements, whereas this study's innovation focuses on developing a game-based approach for self-examination of oral health problems.…”