NCT06381700

Effectiveness of MySmile App for Improving the Oral Health of Secondary School Children:

Effectiveness of MySmile App for Improving the Oral Health of Secondary School Children: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 303 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Malaya · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 15 Years – 17 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this cluster-randomised control trial is to assess the effectiveness of the MySmile app for improving oral health in secondary school children. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Will the MySmile app be more effective in improving secondary school children's dental plaque and gingival health over and above the existing school dental service (SDS)? 2. Will the MySmile app be more effective in improving secondary school children's oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours over and above the existing SDS? 3. Is the MySmile app easy to use by secondary school children? 4. Is the MySmile app acceptable to use from the perspective of secondary school children? Participants in the intervention group will receive the SDS and MySmile app. The control group will receive SDS only. Therefore the researcher will compare between the intervention and control group in terms of dental plaque, gingival health, oral health knowledge, oral health attitudes and oral health behaviours.

Detailed description

The selection of schools into the study will involve three (3) sampling levels. At the first level, acknowledging the division of secondary schools in the district into urban and rural, one matched-pair will be randomly selected from urban area, and another matched pair will be randomly selected from rural area. At the second level, randomisation of the school is carried out. The 2 schools in each of the matched-pair will be randomly allocated to intervention and control group. At the third level, six (6) classrooms from moderate academic performance level will be selected (2 classrooms from Form 3, Form 4, and Form 5, respectively). Students who fulfil the inclusion criteria will be invited to participate in the study. The randomisation sequence will be carried out by the statistician at the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya

Conditions

• Oral Disease
• Gingival Diseases

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	MySmile app	The MySmile app contains several features: A) Knowledge Hub 1. "Do You Know" section: This section consists of seven (7) topics where users can learn about oral health knowledge. 2. "Quiz time" section: In this section, school children can play games and challenge themselves. B) Track yourself Brushing diary Diet diary C) Get help 1. Ask an expert 2. Find your dentist 3. Friendly reminders
OTHER	Control	This will receive the usual School Dental Service. School Dental Service provide students who need dental treatment and will be called to be given treatment. Among the treatments given include: * Dental filling * Full mouth scaling * Dental extraction * Preventive treatment, such as topical fluoride application All treatment is free of charge except for dentures, crown/bridge work and orthodontics. Treatment for school children is based on normative needs assessment as determined by the dentist. A child is defined as orally fit when all required treatment in the SDS has been completed and appropriate oral hygiene status is maintained.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-03-01
• Primary completion: 2025-06-17
• Completion: 2025-08-01
• First posted: 2024-04-24
• Last updated: 2025-03-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Malaysia