TY  - JOUR
AU  - Zhu, Zhiyu
AU  - Ye, Zhiyun
AU  - Wang, Qian
AU  - Li, Ruomei
AU  - Li, Hairui
AU  - Guo, Weiming
AU  - Li, Zhenxia
AU  - Xia, Lunguo
AU  - Fang, Bing
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/4/10
TI  - Evolutionary Trend of Dental Health Care Information on Chinese Social Media Platforms During 2018-2022: Retrospective Observational Study
JO  - JMIR Infodemiology
SP  - e55065
VL  - 5
KW  - social media
KW  - dental health education
KW  - natural language processing
KW  - information quality assessment
KW  - dental care
KW  - dental hygiene
KW  - dentistry
KW  - orthodontic
KW  - health care information
KW  - retrospective study
KW  - observational study
KW  - user engagement
KW  - Chinese
KW  - dental practitioner
KW  - WeChat
KW  - health information
KW  - preventive care
AB  - Background: Social media holds an increasingly significant position in contemporary society, wherein evolving public perspectives are mirrored by changing information. However, there remains a lack of comprehensive analysis regarding the nature and evolution of dental health care information on Chinese social media platforms (SMPs) despite extensive user engagement and voluminous content. Objective: This study aimed to probe into the nature and evolution of dental health care information on Chinese SMPs from 2018 to 2022, providing valuable insights into the evolving digital public perception of dental health for dental practitioners, investigators, and educators. Methods: This study was conducted on 3 major Chinese SMPs: Weibo, WeChat, and Zhihu. Data from March 1 to 31 in 2018, 2020, and 2022 were sampled to construct a social media original database (ODB), from which the most popular long-text posts (N=180) were selected to create an analysis database (ADB). Natural language processing (NLP) tools were used to assist tracking topic trends, and word frequencies were analyzed. The DISCERN health information quality assessment questionnaire was used for information quality evaluation. Results: The number of Weibo posts in the ODB increased approximately fourfold during the observation period, with discussion of orthodontic topics showing the fastest growth, surpassing that of general dentistry after 2020. In the ADB, the engagement of content on Weibo and Zhihu also displayed an upward trend. The overall information quality of long-text posts on the 3 platforms was moderate or low. Of the long-text posts, 143 (79.4%) were written by nonprofessionals, and 105 (58.3%) shared personal medical experiences. On Weibo and WeChat, long-text posts authored by health care professionals had higher DISCERN scores (Weibo P=.04; WeChat P=.02), but there was a negative correlation between engagement and DISCERN scores (Weibo tau-b [τb]=–0.45, P=.01; WeChat τb=–0.30, P=.02). Conclusions: There was a significant increase in the dissemination and evolution of public interest in dental health care information on Chinese social media during 2018-2022. However, the quality of the most popular long-text posts was rated as moderate or low, which may mislead patients and the public. 
SN  - 2564-1891
UR  - https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2025/1/e55065
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/55065
DO  - 10.2196/55065
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/55065
ER  -