An Online Platform to Promote Customized Self Oral Healthcare

Objectives: To introduce a new strategy to promote customized self oral health care by using an online platform to connect dental professionals and patients.
Methods: To facilitate patient self oral health care with guidance from dental professionals, an online platform was developed and was soft launched in Hong Kong in March 2020 for pilot testing. It is a comprehensive online platform which integrates online shopping of oral health products, and delivery of up-to-date oral health information and education. Dentists and dental hygienists can register at the platform for free. Customers (patients) of their clinic can register to use the service of the platform through an invitation link sent by the clinic. The platform provides supply of customized oral health products which are recommended by the dentist/hygienist based on the patient’s oral health condition, and proactive online oral health information and education.
Results: The platform has been on a trial run for 20 months. Up to November 2022, 7 dental clinics and 10 dentist/hygienists had registered at the platform. A total of 495 patients had registered and joined as active users. A total of 631 pieces of customized dental care instruction were distributed to the registered patients by dentists/hygienists through the platform. Patients had login 835 times, and more than half of them re-visited the platform. A total of 348 purchases had been recorded. The mean amount of transaction per purchase was HKD 441 (around USD 57). The most popular items purchased were toothpaste, dental floss, mouthrinse, and manual toothbrush.
Conclusions: Based on the preliminary data, online platform is a promising tool to promote customized self oral health care among dental patients. It helps to nature positive dental behaviour among dental patients by connecting them with dental professionals.