Development of a Mobile Application for Acquiring Clinical and Laboratorial Skills and Abilities in Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics

ABSTRACT

Abstract Objective: To develop an educational mobile application as a dynamic platform provided free of charge, including several clinical and laboratory protocols for a wider range of skills and greater knowledge on the strategic axes of child dental care Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics. Material and Methods: The prototype tool was structured as follows development of clinical and laboratory contents to be addressed, software selection, layout format, inclusion of features, applicability and acceptability tests of the operational system, and indexation on the Play Store® application store (free of charge). Results: The mobile application has shown to be a tool capable of storing and providing data through various audiovisual media formats on clinical and laboratory contents of child dental care. Media resources were developed for the following themes restorative dentistry in pediatric dentistry, radiographic techniques with pediatric patients, pulp therapy in deciduous teeth, traumatic injuries in the primary dentition, and preventive and interceptive orthodontics. The short-duration multimedia content, with different audiovisual formats, proved to be coherent with the peculiarities of each procedure, enabling to better visualize and understand the techniques. Moreover, the rewind, fast forward, and pause features were included in the mobile application, as well as the possibility of saving print screens, as well as highlighting and searching for contents of interest. Conclusion: The OdontoPed-Helpbox® demonstrated to be able to reach new strategies for the dynamic teaching-learning process, through operational efficiency. It proved to be a useful and instant tool for providing information to support clinical decision making in Dentistry.