Oral Health Promotion Mediated by Teledentistry in Community-dwelling Older Adults of La Araucanía Region, Chile

NCT05917548 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 082/22
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 117
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and oral health self-efficacy in self-sufficient elders aged over 60 years of 4 cities of La Araucanía región, Chile. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Can the development and implementation of a teledentistry strategy focused on community-dwelling older adults of the La Araucanía region improve participants' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy in oral health?
• Could this teledentistry strategy have acceptability greater than 80%? Participants will receive a dental-medical-geriatric diagnosis in a mobile dental clinic supported by a web platform called Teleplatform of Geriatric Dental Specialties (TEGO) and individual oral health education. The researchers will compare a comparison group that will receive face-to-face individual oral health education with an intervention group, called tele-education group, that will receive educational reinforcement through a teledentistry strategy mediated by oral health educational videos sent via WhatsApp; to see if there are differences in the knowledge, attitudes, and oral health self-efficacy between the groups.

Conditions

Oral Health Knowledge; Oral Health Attitudes; Oral Health Self-efficacy

Keywords

Teledentistry; Oral health promotion; Elderly

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Change in oral health knowledge

  Questionnaire of 38 items focused on identifying signs and symptoms of dental caries, periodontal disease, and oral cancer, as well as preventive measures for each condition. The responses for signs and symptoms were quantified using a 'Yes' , 'I don't know' or 'No' scale, while preventive measures were ranked on a 5-point scale ranging from 'Very important to 'Not at all important

  Change from baseline oral health knowledges at 6 weeks

• Change in oral health attitudes

  Attitudes were measured via a 5-point scale, which evaluated seven items associated with the inevitability of oral disease in the elderly, the value of keeping natural teeth, and the effectiveness of preventive behaviors

  Change from baseline oral health attitudes at 6 weeks

• Change in oral health self-efficacy

  Oral Health self-efficacy scale to assess the individual's confidence in their ability to prevent oral diseases. This survey has 8 items under the subordinate categories of oral and general health self-efficacy, six and two questions respectively. All of the eight items had to be rated along a five-point Likert scale comprising Not at all Confident, Not confident, Neither confident nor unconfident, Confident, and Strongly Confident ratings.

  Change from baseline oral health self-efficacy at 6 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Acceptability: Utility of the teledentistry intervention

  2 days after sending each video

• Acceptability: Dropout rate

  Change from baseline up to 6 weeks

• Acceptability: Recomendation

  After 6 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Tele-education

EXPERIMENTAL

The tele-education group will receive the same intervention as the comparison group with an educational reinforcement mediated by teledentistry. This intervention consists of 4 educational videos, designed for the elderly, promoting correct toothbrushing and flossing, detection, and prevention of dental caries, periodontal disease, and oral cancer. These four videos were sent via WhatsApp.

Device: Teledentistry oral health promotion; Behavioral: Face-to-Face oral health promotion

Comparison

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The comparison group receive a medical-dental-geriatric diagnosis and face-to-face standardized education via powerpoint presentation and use of dental models for the promotion of correct toothbrushing and flossing, detection, and prevention of dental caries, periodontal disease, and oral cancer.

Behavioral: Face-to-Face oral health promotion

Interventions

Teledentistry oral health promotion DEVICE

Educational videos specially designed and validated for elderly (duration 4 to 6 minutes each one)

Tele-education

Face-to-Face oral health promotion BEHAVIORAL

Standardized PowerPoint presentation of 15 minutes about the most common or dangerous oral diseases (dental caries, periodontal disease and oral cancer), and toothbrushing and flossing practice in dental models

Comparison; Tele-education

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 60 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Adults over 60 years of age residing in La Araucanía Region
• Self-valent (Barthel index ≥ 90)
• With access to a smartphone and internet
• Ability to follow instructions and adequate mobility to go up to a mobile dental clinic.

You may not qualify if:

• Subjects with cognitive impairment (Folstein Mini-Mental ≤ 24)
• Totally edentulous
• Those who do not use WhatsApp

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Fernanda Muñoz Sepúlveda: lead
• Subvención Presidencial, Ministerio de Hacienda, Chile: collaborator
• Centro Interuniversitario de Envejecimiento Saludable (CIES): collaborator
• Beca de Postgrado Magíster Nacional, ANID: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Clinica Dental Móvil TEGO-UFRO

Temuco, La Araucanía, Chile

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Beltran V, Flores M, Sanzana C, Munoz-Sepulveda F, Alvarado E, Venegas B, Molina JC, Rueda-Velasquez S, von Marttens A. Tooth Loss and Caries Experience of Elderly Chileans in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Five Regions of Chile. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 9;20(4):3001. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043001.

  PMID: 36833696 BACKGROUND

• Beltran V, von Marttens A, Acuna-Mardones P, Sanzana-Luengo C, Rueda-Velasquez SJ, Alvarado E, Flores M, Cerda A, Venegas B. Implementation of a Teledentistry Platform for Dental Emergencies for the Elderly in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile. Biomed Res Int. 2022 Mar 22;2022:6889285. doi: 10.1155/2022/6889285. eCollection 2022.

  PMID: 35330690 BACKGROUND

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: CARE PROVIDER, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: The random assignment was blinded for the dental care provider, outcome assesor and for the co-investigator in charge of the statistical analysis. (Double-blind RCT)
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: The participants were contacted via phone calls for enrolment in TEGO platform where the pre-test of knowledge, attitudes and oral health self-efficacy was applied. Then, they were scheduled for medical-dental-geriatric diagnosis in a mobile dental clinic where all receive a standardized face-to-face oral health individual education. The investigator in charge of sending the videos performed age-stratified randomization in every city of the study using a random number generator function of the Epidat 4.2 program for the allocation of the participants in comparison or intervention groups. The videos were sent to the participants in the intervention group, this information is masked for the dental care providers and for the outcome assessor. 6 weeks later the face-to-face intervention both groups were assessed in with the post-test via phone call.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 6, 2023
• First Posted: June 26, 2023
• Study Start: March 3, 2023
• Primary Completion: August 30, 2023
• Study Completion: October 14, 2023
• Last Updated: January 3, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: When summary data are published

Locations

CL (1)