Awareness and Educational Effectiveness of theToothSOSMobile Application for Traumatic Dental Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
DENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1111/edt.70142
- Dergi Adı: DENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest)
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Background/Aim ToothSOS is a free International Association of Dental Traumatology application giving guideline-based first-aid instructions for traumatic dental injuries; no synthesis specific to it exists. This review assessed awareness of the application, its educational effectiveness and its reported quality and utilisation.Material and Methods PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar, with supplementary sources, were searched on 5 August 2026 without language or date restrictions. Studies addressing any of these were eligible. With one conflict-of-interest exception, screening, extraction and appraisal were independent and in duplicate, using Joanna Briggs Institute checklists and a review-specific appraisal. Awareness was pooled using a binomial-normal generalised linear mixed model with a prespecified subgroup analysis by population type. Certainty was assessed with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.Results Twenty-one studies were included. Fourteen awareness studies included 4576 participants; eight were conducted in T & uuml;rkiye. Awareness was 27.1% (95% confidence interval 13.4-47.1) among dental professionals and students, 3.1% (1.0-8.8) among non-dental health professionals and students and 1.6% (0.6-4.1) among lay populations. Pooled across all populations it was 5.0% (1.8-13.1), with substantial heterogeneity (I 2 = 96.5%) and a prediction interval of 0.1%-79.2%; this summarises the included samples rather than any global population. Three uncontrolled studies (298 participants) reported immediate knowledge gains too heterogeneous to pool; at 1 month their pooled standardised mean change was 2.33 (1.48-3.18). Certainty was very low for awareness and educational outcomes.Conclusions Awareness was particularly low in non-dental health and lay samples. Population and geographic heterogeneity limit generalisation. Short-term knowledge gains do not establish sustained learning or improved management of actual injuries, and application-quality findings rest on an unvalidated review-specific appraisal. These findings support evaluating targeted dissemination and longer-term clinical outcomes.Trial Registration PROSPERO; submitted 28 July 2026 and formally registered 9 August 2026, after the searches