Applications for mobile devices in oral health: an integrative review

Abstract

The elaboration and application of new technological resources with educational strategies in the context of education and health is essential to meet current demands, promoting learning through motivating elements adapted to the contemporary context. To know what has been published about mobile applications in oral health aimed at users in general. Integrative Review that includes review and intervention articles published between 2005 and 2015 in the following electronic databases: Medline, Scielo, Pubmed, Scopus and Cochrane Library. The following descriptors have been used in the search: "oral health", "mobile devices" and "applications", being excluded repeated and they were at odds with the theme proposed. Twelve articles have been identified, these have been grouped in tables according to author, year of publication, country, type of research and action strategy. Few studies have explored applications for the prevention of oral diseases and for the promotion of oral health. Most studies on applications in oral health focus on the area of orthodontics and general practice, using features of text messaging an action strategy for reminding patients of their appointments.