Development of an application for oral health education in childhood and adolescence

experience report

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to report the experience of the development of a smartphone application (app) on the oral health of children and adolescents for parents and caregivers. This experience report was developed as part of an extension project of the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, between June and December of the year 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The topics addressed on the app were tooth decay, oral hygiene, healthy eating, other oral diseases, premature birth and infectious diseases. The development of the app took place wholly on an online platform free of charge in seven steps: Step 1 – choice of name of app; Step 2 – definition of color palette; Step 3 – creation of logo for app, defined as “EducaBucal”; Steps 4 and 5 – definition of objectives and topics/subtopics, respectively; Steps 6 and 7 – bibliographic survey, creation of material and finalization of app. The bibliographic survey involved consulting recent articles in high-impact journals indexed in Google Scholar, SciELO and PubMed as theoretical support for the creation of the material. This innovative, dynamic experience enabled the continuity of educational actions even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and enabled expanding the comprehensiveness and reach of oral health counseling. Virtual environments can and should be increasingly explored as scenarios for extension projects.