Social media misinformation creates a public health problem with lost teeth, prolonged dental pain, unnecessary costs and worsening oral health disparities.
Dentists expect to spend their days treating toothaches and restoring damaged teeth. Increasingly, however, we are also facing another problem: the influence of social media misinformation on patients’ beliefs about routine care.
Few topics demonstrate this more clearly than root canal therapy, which has become a frequent target of online conspiracy narratives.
My recent research, published on Dental journal,
examined how root canal treatment is represented on Instagram. Instead of evidence-based information, I found a landscape dominated by visually stunning, emotionally charged and often misleading content. The posts usually depict teeth “glowing” with toxins, promote unscientific detoxification practices, and even dentists consider them to be hiding damage. This aesthetic disinformation gains traction not because it’s accurate, but because it’s compelling – glossy images wrapped around pseudoscientific language.
This is not just an online distraction. it’s a matter of public health.
Oral disease remains one of Australia’s most unequal health burdens. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) persistently documents socio-economic
disparities in oral health outcomes. The inequality of dental access has been covered directly by Lesley Russell in her recent writing for Pearls and Irritations, with increasing levels of dental disease in the Australian public and increasing barriers to affordable care.
These disparities have the potential to intersect with exposure to misleading health content. People with low health literacy – a challenge repeatedly identified in
National Digital Health Strategy – are more vulnerable to persuasive misinformation. When misinformation prompts people to refuse treatment, delay intervention, or choose irreversible options (such as tooth extraction), inequalities deepen. Disease severity is increasing, preventable emergencies are becoming more frequent, and long-term costs are escalating throughout the health system.
Misinformation about dental treatments and illnesses can also lead consumers to reach into their pension early to pay for care – with
media reports demonstrating significant negative consumer effects on such behaviors and health regulators
increasingly anxious regarding the inappropriate facilitation of health professionals in early release.
Two actions are overdue. First, enhance the ability of clinicians and public agencies to communicate effectively online.
Accurate health information barely competes with visually powerful algorithm-optimized content.
But clinicians themselves need resources—visual communication training, interdisciplinary collaborations, and better reinforcement of evidence-based oral health content. Current guidance is largely focused on advertising compliance, such as the regulatory expectations provided by bodies such as
TGA and
Pragmatic guidance for clinicians to guide how they might approach online initiatives to improve health literacy is lacking. Clear expectations for addressing this issue in dental and healthcare training curricula need to be outlined by the bodies that accredit training courses leading to registration as healthcare professionals.
Second, address the underlying trust deficit that makes misinformation persuasive.
Misinformation takes root where trust in institutions, government and health systems is fragile. People gravitate to influencers because they seem relatable, accessible and emotionally attuned. Addressing misinformation requires more than correcting it – it requires rebuilding trust, ensuring patient respect and recognizing the emotional dimensions of health anxiety.
To this end, healthcare professional communities must reflect on contemporary consumer expectations regarding engagement and decision-making. While most healthcare professionals in 2025 are well aware of the principles of informed consent, as research in dentistry shows, it is true
patient-centered care it is still an aspiration rather than a reality for many clinicians.
Dental misinformation may not make headlines like pandemic conspiracies, but its consequences are immediate: lost teeth, prolonged pain, unnecessary costs, and worsening oral health disparities.
If we want a fairer health system, we cannot ignore the digital forces shaping what Australians think about their teeth.
The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.
