The Role of Social Media on Oral Health Promotion among Youth in Jordan

Objectives: The aim of the current study is to assess the prevalence of using social media to obtain and share oral health information among Jordanian youth. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among university students in northern Jordan using a self-administered questionnaire distributed electronically. Data was analyzed by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, v.25.0). All statistical analyses were carried out at a significance level of p<0.05. Results: A half of respondents (50%) were using social media for oral health reasons. The most frequently used applications were; Facebook (89.1%), WhatsApp (78.0%), and YouTube (67.8%). The majority (67%) stated that easy access to information was the main reason for using social media as a source of oral health information, while (58%) of the respondents chose the difficulty in communicating with specialists as the main reason. Conclusions: Social media platforms were considered an essential source of oral health information by university students. Easy and free access to internet represented the most reported advantage. Difficulty in communicating with oral health specialists was perceived as the major barrier towards using social media. Keywords: Social media, Oral health promotion, Internet applications, Barriers, Jordan, Youth.