The Power of Social Media on Esthetic Dental Treatment Choices in Arabian Gulf Region

Objective: To evaluate the impact of social media on the patient's choice of dental esthetic treatment in the Arabian Gulf region. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 2015 and finished on 2015. One thousand twenty-eight online and paperbased questionnaires were answered regarding four main domains. i. The first is the demographic data, education, nationality, and whether or not the participant had an active account in any social media sites. ii. The pervasiveness of using social media sites as a reliable source of information about dental esthetic: treatment options, clinics, and practitioners. iii. The effect of esthetic dental clinic advertisements on the patient's willingness to visit and the promotion of a certain esthetic dental professional. iv. Lastly, the influence of the families, friends, and celebrities on the patient's choice about certain dental esthetic: treatment, clinics, and practitioners. Results: Most of the participants (98.3%) have at least one account on the social media network, and 81.6% of them use their accounts daily. Nearly two thirds of the sample tends to get their dental information from social networking (66.2%), and about 45% are affected by their families and friends in regard to their dental esthetic treatment choice. Conclusion: Social media has proven to have a powerful effect in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf region. Participants tend to seek dental information, follow, and communicate with dentists, and write about their dental experience through social media.