Depiction of Clear Aligners on Social Media

Sammanfattning

Objective: To analyse posts on TikTok and Instagram about clear aligners, advantages, disadvantages, costs, and how this compares to scientific studies. Material and method: The search included databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. On TikTok and Instagram, different search terms were used to locate relevant posts, with the inclusion criteria of at least 100 likes. The gathered data was analysed using the DISCERN questionnaire. Result: The DISCERN-analysis of the 170 gathered posts resulted in a score of 2.45/5. These posts were published most often by laypersons (37.1%) and clinics (35.3%). Only 8.2 of posts included costs while 1.2% referred to any scientific source. Majority of the posts (63.5%)excluded the disadvantages; however, some discussed pain and pressure (10.1%), lisp (4.7%), socially awkward (4.1%), gingivitis (3.5%) and others (13.5%). Among the advantages mentioned were that clear aligners are invisible, removable, have no dietary restrictions, are comfortable, require fewer visits, and are easy to maintain oral hygiene. Conclusion: Advantages of clear aligners prevailed over their disadvantages. They promised that they are invisible, aesthetic, comfortable, more effective and require fewer visits compared to fixed appliances. Most of the posts were made by either laypersons or clinics, with only a handful including costs and even fewer referring to scientific research. The side effects mentioned were also scientifically proven, such as pain, pressure, lisp and social awkwardness. This becomes an underlying liability of erroneous information being derived by social media users.