413 - Interactive Nutrition App for Pediatric Oral Health Education

Abstract: Purpose

Poor dietary choices contribute significantly to dental caries and adverse systemic health outcomes in children. Conventional oral health education often lacks engagement, age-appropriate design, and cultural inclusivity. The purpose of this project was to develop an interactive, accessible educational application aimed at improving pediatric nutrition choices and oral health literacy among children and caregivers.



Methods

A website-based, mobile-accessible educational application was developed using a scenario-driven, choice-based gameplay format. Users encounter routine daily situations including meals, snacks, and beverages in school, home, and recreational settings. Within each scenario, players select food and drink options that influence cumulative scores related to oral health, energy, and physical strength. Educational difficulty is adjusted based on child age and aligned with AAPD age-group classifications, allowing content complexity, reading comprehension level, and explanatory detail to scale appropriately. Immediate feedback is provided following each selection to explain the oral health and nutritional implications of each choice. The application was designed to be culturally inclusive, visually intuitive, and accessible via QR code, personal devices, and clinic-based tablets. Planned features include screening for food insecurity with links to community support resources and cavity detection tools for caregivers.



Results

The application is currently undergoing pilot evaluation to assess usability, engagement, and feasibility in clinical and educational settings.



Conclusions

This project demonstrates the feasibility of using brief, interactive digital tools to deliver age-adapted, inclusive nutrition, early dental caries detection, and oral health education. Scenario-based learning offers a practical approach to enhancing engagement and reinforcing preventive behaviors beyond the dental visit.

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