Advertising the Tooth: An Analysis of Content and Compliance of Malaysian Dental Clinics’ Facebook and Instagram Posts

Social media has quickly become a popular method for dental clinics to advertise their services broadly and economically. Information disseminated to the public via social media must conform to guidelines set by local regulatory bodies. This study aimed to investigate the types of Facebook and Instagram posts produced by dental practices in Malaysia and their compliance with guidelines set by the Malaysian Dental Council (MDC). This was a cross-sectional analysis of Facebook and Instagram posts by private dental clinics in Malaysia. Data were extracted from posts uploaded over a six-month period between 1st October 2021 and 1st April 2022. Information available, frequency of posts and type of posts were recorded. Each post was then categorised as being compliant or non-compliant mapping to the MDC guidelines. Data was tabulated to generate descriptive statistics with frequency tables. In total, 243 accounts (11,780 posts) were analysed. The most common types of posts were advertisements. Although only 15% of posts were noncompliant, more than half of the investigated social media accounts had one or more noncompliant posts on their platform. Majority of dental clinics are posting advertisements or clinical photos but not all posts are compliant with MDC guidelines.