Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb;37(1):145-150.
doi: 10.1111/edt.12609. Epub 2020 Sep 30.

The International Association of Dental Traumatology ToothSOS mobile app: A 2-year report

Anahat Khehra  1 , Nestor Cohenca  2 , Zafer C Cehreli  3 , Liran Levin  1
Affiliations

The International Association of Dental Traumatology ToothSOS mobile app: A 2-year report

Anahat Khehra et al. Dent Traumatol. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background/aim: The shift in health care and technology calls for innovation through mobile applications as free educational resources for the masses. The International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT) created ToothSOS, an app (software application for mobile devices) to provide dental trauma information for patients and professionals. The app contains information on the emergency management and prevention of dental injuries, as well as treatment guidelines for dental practitioners. The aim of this study was to assess public utilization of the ToothSOS app in the first 2 years since its launch.

Methods: The ToothSOS app was launched by the IADT in the first week of April 2018. Data regarding the number of downloads and usage of the app in the first 2 years (from April 2018 to May 2020) were collected and analyzed.

Results: The total number of ToothSOS downloads over the 2 years was 47 725. The number of downloads peaked in the first month when the app was initially released. Thereafter, the number of downloads decreased to an average of 1423 ± 363 downloads every month. Europe was the territory with the greatest number of downloads followed by the United States and Canada, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa, the Middle East, and India.

Conclusions: Within as short a period as 2 years, the ToothSOS app continues to gain public interest. Further attempts and public campaigns should be made in order to increase the visibility of the app. Dental professionals should encourage patients and communities to use the app in order to increase awareness for the prevention and proper emergency management of traumatic dental injuries.

Keywords: avulsion; education; prevention; tooth fracture; trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Reddy LV, Bhattacharjee R, Misch E, Sokoya M, Ducic Y. Dental injuries and management. Facial Plast Surg. 2019;35:607-13.
    1. Levin L, Day PF, Hicks L, O'Connell A, Fouad AF, Bourguignon C, et al. International Association of Dental Traumatology guidelines for the management of traumatic dental injuries: general introduction. Dent Traumatol. 2020;36:309-13.
    1. Tan Y, Levin L, Guo W, Chen Y. Dental injuries at the Xi'an, China Stomatological Hospital: a retrospective study. Dent Traumatol. 2020;36:505-509.
    1. Levin L, Zadik Y. Education on and prevention of dental trauma: it's time to act!. Dent Traumatol. 2012;28:49-54.
    1. Khan L. Dental care and trauma management in children and adolescents. Pediatr Ann. 2019;48:3-8.

LinkOut - more resources