A new study published in the Journal of Dental Research (JDR) demonstrates that users of the social networking website Twitter are using the site to share experiences of toothache and seek advice from other 'tweeters'. Twitter could afford healthcare professionals new ways to communicate with patients.

The study, titled Public health surveillance of dental pain via Twitter, conducted by researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), investigated the content of Twitter posts meeting search criteria relating to dental pain. A set of 1,000 'tweets' was randomly selected from 4,859 tweets over seven non-consecutive days.

Eighty-three percent of 772 tweets analysed (ambiguous tweets, spam and repeat users were excluded) were primarily categorised as a statement of dental pain; 22% as an action taken or contemplated; and 15% as describing an impact on daily activities. Among the actions taken or contemplated, 44% reported seeing a dentist, 43% took an analgesic or antibiotic medication and 14% actively sought advice from the Twitter community.

'This paper highlights the potential of using social media to collect public health data for research purposes,' said JDR Editor-in-Chief William Giannobile. 'Utilising Twitter is an interesting, early state approach with potential impact in the assessment of large sets of population information.'

The article can be accessed at: http://jdr.sagepub.com/content/90/9/1047.abstract