EVALUATION OF MOBILE DENTAL APPLICATIONS USING USER VERSION MOBILE APP RATING SCALE (uMARS)

Abstract

PURPOSE: The use of mobile phone applications (Apps) has the potential to revolutionize the conventional practice of dentistry. There is a remarkable proliferation of mobile health apps in the field of dentistry which necessitates an urgent and reliable evaluation of the quality of these apps. The main objective of the article is to analyze the quality of dental apps using a reliable tool. METHOD: A systematic search was conducted on SamsungJ7 Prime and iPhone 7 using Google Play Store and App store respectively from June to August 2017 using the search terms “oral hygiene”, “tooth brushing”, oral health education”, ‘baby teeth care”. After due application of a predetermined selection criteria, twenty dental apps were randomly selected using computer software (www.randomizer.com). Each app was individually assessed and rated (1- inadequate, 2- poor, 3- acceptable, 4- good, 5- excellent) according to a prevalidated user version of Mobile App Rating Scale (uMARS). RESULT: The rating of dental apps used in this study ranged from 1.08/5 to 3.25/5. According to the objective criteria of uMARS, apps such as Brush DJ and Brush Up were found acceptable. Teeth Care Tips, Dental Surgery Simulator, Dental Expert and UC Dental were scored acceptable along with the former two apps under subjective criteria. CONCLUSION: No apps scored good or excellent as per the uMARS criteria. As advances in technology have promoted the use of smart devices in health promotion and practices medical or dental apps must not only be informative and entertaining but also be evidence based and scientifically rated. KEYWORDS: mHealth, Smartphones, Oral health, Mobile application, rating.