Gamification in Oral Health (Preprint)

Abstract

Our modern way of life, health and well-being depend on the individual's health behaviors. Motivation is a major factor of health behaviour change, and intrinsically motivated behavior change is desirable as it is both sustained and directly contributes to well-being. This raises the immediate question about what kind of interventions are best positioned to intrinsically motivate health behavior change.

With this study we wanted to analyse the presence and efficiency of gamification mechanisms in oral healthcare-themed digital games and apps on promoting user engagement to comply with prevention policies.

The search query was based on the electronic database PubMed. Applying exclusion and inclusion criteria, this study is focused on scholar work reporting original research of the value of gamification on oral healthcare. The final pool of data was scrutinized for the gamification features, evidence-based oral health and behavior change techniques.

Apps with high quality evidence-based educational content for oral self-care, employing gamification features and behavior change techniques, provide excellent results in functionality, effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. However, some authors highlighted issues such as the need to improve engagement, aesthetics, evidence-based information content, behavior change taxonomies, psychological needs, evaluation, validation, quality assessment and professional regulation of the oral healthcare apps.

In this systematic review, we did not find any app that included all the segments for learning, performing, and maintaining proper oral health care. Evidence-based oral healthcare gamification features represent potential new approaches for health care providers to change behavior in the form of learning, performing and maintaining proper oral hygiene. Evaluation, validation, quality assurance, best practice standards and guidelines are needed for improving app use.