UCSF

Purpose: This longitudinal study determines the effectiveness of text messaging to communicate appointment reminders and oral health information to parents of pediatric patients at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Pediatric Dentistry Clinic.

Methods: A convenience sample of 95 parent/child pairs was recruited from the UCSF Pediatric Dentistry clinic. Children were aged 1-6 years, new patients, healthy (American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 1 or 2), and parents were able to give consent in Spanish or English. The pairs were randomized into 2 groups. Parents in the experimental group received appointment-scheduling reminders and oral health information by text messages every 3 weeks. The control group received appointment-scheduling reminders by the conventional postcard system and no supplemental educational information was transmitted. Data was collected regarding appointment attendance, demographics, oral health knowledge, oral hygiene and dietary practices, and preferences for mode of appointment reminders.

Results: During the year prior to initiation of this study, the UCSF Pediatric Dentistry clinic had a 6-month periodic oral examination (POE) appointment attendance rate of 36%. For subjects recruited in this study, an increased POE appointment attendance rate was seen in both the control (47%) and experimental groups (44%), although these increases did not differ significantly from the baseline rate of 36% (p = 0.0526). 22 of 47 control group subjects and 21 of 48 experimental group subjects returned for their POE appointment. On average, the control group patients returned later for their scheduled POE than the experimental group patients (1.90 months versus 1.05 months late), although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.1694). When surveyed, the only statistically significant difference was noted for parents in the experimental group reporting better adult supervision while brushing compared to the intervention group (p = 0.0217).

Conclusions: Text messaging oral hygiene information did improve parents’ reported supervision of their child’s tooth-brushing but did not significantly improve reported diet practices of the children, timeliness of POE appointment scheduling or attendance rates. Text messaging may be a valuable adjunct to improving appointment attendance rates and oral health knowledge but it needs to be supplemented with other tools.