The Role of Instagram on Dental Education

Objective: Technological developments affect educational processes, learning methods, and learning environments. Dentistry education should be adapted parallel with technologicaldevelopments for students whose learning habits change with the increasing using of social media and mobile phones. This study aimsto compare the efficacy of the mobile-based education method (Instagram application) and the traditional classroom education method.Material and Methods: The study was conducted with 42 volunteerstudents who had not taken general and oral pathology courses yet.Students (n:21) in the control group took radiological features of theodontogenic and non-odontogenic cysts and odontogenic tumorscourse by the classroom learning method. The study group (n:21) followed the same lessons’ images on the newly opened @beuradyolojiInstagram account. Both groups were trained for 1 hour a week for 4weeks. The knowledge test was held 15 days after the end of thecourses to all students. Paired sample t-test was performed to investigate differences between the mean knowledge test scores of thegroups. Results: The examination average for the study group was71.97±9.3 and the control group was 68.33±8.39. Paired sample t-testshowed no significant difference between the study and controlgroups in knowledge scores (p>0.05). Conclusion: The current studyis the first that investigates the effect of the mobile-based educationmethod on radiological features of the specific cysts and tumors. Thestudy carried out on a limited number of students, shows that the valueof mobile-based education has almost the same effectiveness to classroom education.