Watch and learn? A systematic review comparing oral health educational videos with written patient information aimed at parents/carers or children

Introduction Childhood caries remains a major UK health issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated rapid introduction of innovative practice to minimise footfall into dental clinics. Video-based oral health education could help promote oral health advice remotely and has been included in national guidance. This systematic review evaluates the impact of video education versus written patient leaflets on knowledge and oral health behaviours in parents/carers or children. Method PubMed and Medline were searched. In total, 47 articles were identified and relevance assessed by examining titles and abstracts. Seven full-text articles were assessed and reference lists manually screened for additional publications. Three studies met the inclusion criteria. Results Only one study assessed participant knowledge gain and found no statistical significance between scores at baseline and after video, leaflet or hygienist-led education. For oral health behaviour change, one study demonstrated no significant difference in plaque score improvements between video and leaflet groups. The other showed significant improvements in plaque and bleeding scores for both leaflet and video groups compared to the control. Conclusion This review identified too few studies with heterogeneity to make conclusions on the impact of written versusvideo oral health education. A standardised outcome measurement tool is needed to evaluate the impact of current educational videos on oral health behaviour and knowledge. There is potential for video to educate the masses as we navigate through this pandemic.