Smartphones and dental trauma: the current availability of apps for managing traumatic dental injuries

Abstract

There are apps available for both patients and dentists that range in quality and on the whole lack real-life photographs. Future apps should continue to provide good quality, evidence-based and validated material.

Use of a clinical decision support tool for the management of traumatic dental injuries in the primary dentition by novice and expert clinicians

“…A study by Djemal et al reported that a total of 8 smartphone apps were available for the management of traumatic dental injuries. Of those available, only 1 app ( Dental Trauma ) had the endorsement of the IADT and only 1 ( AcciDent ) was targeted solely toward dental professionals . The remaining apps ranged in quality and lacked clinical photographs and illustrations.…”

“…The remaining apps ranged in quality and lacked clinical photographs and illustrations. They concluded that future apps should provide high quality and validated guidance and be tailored for use by professionals . The information in the mobile app developed for this study is based on the AAPD and IADT clinical guidelines.…”

Diagnostic ability of a smart phone app (injured tooth) in diagnosing traumatic injuries to the teeth – a multicentre analysis

“…Djemal in his work on availability of apps for managing dental injuries had concluded that in the apps available at the time of his study, clinical photographs were lacking. Further, he suggested that illustrations in the apps may help the users in emergency management of dental traumatic injuries.…”

Smartphone App as an aid in the emergency management of avulsed teeth

“…The term 'mHealth' is emerging in the literature to describe the use of portable electronic devices with software applications (Apps) for health services and information. A recent overview of smartphones and the many Apps available demonstrated that there was a range in quality and many were not evidence based (28). The field of mHealth has seen smartphone technologies used to disseminate health information (26,35), and they have also been used as a monitoring device testing for compliance of prescribed self-management programs (36).…”

“…Currently, smartphones and their software applications (Apps) are accessible by the majority of people. With approximately five billion mobile phone users globally, opportunities for mobile technology use in health information dissemination are being increasingly recognized (25)(26)(27)(28).…”