USING SMARTPHONE GAMES AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL IN ORAL HEALTH

Abstract

Health education is understood as a social practice that advocates the gradual change in thinking, feeling, and acting through participatory teaching methods. This work shows the performance of the extension project “We at the Network: Contributions of Dentistry in Education, Prevention, and Health Maintenance,” linked to the Department of Dentistry in the State University of Ponta Grossa-PR, which has health education as a requirement in dental practice. One of the nominated activities is a smartphone game that promotes and disseminates basic information related to oral health for adolescents. The game favoring the construction of new knowledge, habits, and care. It consists of an interactive system of questions that are distributed in three different stages with different levels of difficulty. Using the game requires a compatible electronic device and Internet access. Themes such as dental caries, periodontal disease, halitosis, oral lesions, tooth brushing, flossing, mouthwash, the relationship between oral and systemic health, the use of drugs, oral piercings, and myths and truths that affect the dental field are explored at the game. The conclude that the game acts as a facilitator for sharing information and motivating the population in search for healthier behaviors.