Dental infodemic: Investigating the consumption, propagation, and psychophysiological impact of false digital information about oral health

• Grant number: 23/11709-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Pediatric Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Thiago Cruvinel da Silva
• Grantee: Thiago Cruvinel da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru (FOB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/13934-3 - Dental infodemic: Applicability, credibility, facticity, and usefulness of content generated by generative artificial intelligence chatbots related to the use of fluoride for dental caries prevention, BP.PD; 24/12604-2 - Impact of informational pollution against the use of fluorides on oral health behavior and dental caries development: An agent-based modeling, BP.DR

Abstract

The consumption of misinformation and disinformation can directly interfere with the personal construction of beliefs, potentially causing negative impacts on individuals' health behaviors. In this sense, the present project aims to investigate the spread and psychophysiological impact of digital oral health-related misinformation, besides evaluating the role of artificial intelligence chatbots in mitigating this negative impact. To this end, this project is presented in the form of subprojects, including ongoing FAPESP scholarships for Master's (FAPESP processes 2021/07339-0 and 2022/08823-5) and Ph.D. (FAPESP processes 2019/27242-0 and BEPE 2021/10732-5). Subproject 1 will consist of evaluating posts on social media about amber necklace for preventing odontiasis symptoms and dental caries, considering the profile of the post's author, the factuality of the content, the sentiment, the total interaction of users with the post, and the post's diffusion. The images of the posts will be characterized based on their structural properties and visual characteristics. A network of URL and hashtag propagation related to the amber necklace and dental caries will be constructed using Gephi software. Finally, the most influential profiles for misinformation spreading observed in the propagation network will be qualitatively analyzed. Subproject 2 will consist of a single-blind, parallel, randomized controlled clinical study to determine the differences in psychophysiological reactions of individuals when consuming information and misinformation about fluoride. Additionally, artificial neural network models will be validated to measure psychophysiological outcomes related to consuming fluoride misinformation based on cross-validation (CV) and leave-one-session-out cross-validation (LOSOCV) analyses. Subproject 3 will involve the qualitative analysis of responses from an artificial intelligence chatbot (ChatGPT) regarding fluoride misinformation extracted from social media to evaluate its ability to debunk or reinforce these falsehoods. Statistical analysis will be conducted based on the normality and homogeneity of the data. P-values <0.05 will be considered for significant differences. (AU)