"USABILITY APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ORAL HYGIENE INSTRUCTION AND MOTIVATION MOBILE APPLICATION FOR ORTHODONTIC PATIENTS."

Introduction: Several interventions to improve oral hygiene compliance, such as verbal instructions, written instructions, illustrations using catalogues, videos, telephone calls, text messages, chat groups, and oral hygiene mobile applications, have been reported in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment. This study aimed to develop and validate a mobile application based on a usability engineering framework from an end user perspective. Methods: The app design has a user end for patients. The description/screens of the graphic user interface (GUI) for users include registration, sign-in, home screen, setting screen, timer screen, and user profile. The approach involves the collection of data from 25 participants who underwent fixed orthodontic appliances and were recruited to interact with the mobile application to validate its usability. The methodology was considered in the context of the mobile app using a post study system usability questionnaire, which was applied to the users after 12 weeks of interaction. Results: A mobile application called the IFEORTHOCARE mobile app was developed with a user-end that illustrates oral hygiene instruction using a validated video, reminds patients about their oral health compliance with the aid of a push button alert, and empowers patients and clinicians to monitor oral hygiene compliance using feedback support in the form of a graphical display of the daily duration of toothbrushing. The mean PSSUQ score for all participants was 2.68 out of a maximum of 7.00, indicating a high degree of performance and satisfaction. Conclusion: The IFEORTHOCARE app was developed, and its usability has received strong overall satisfaction. In addition, there was a greater reduction in biofilm accumulation with the aid of this application