OrthoHelp: application for patients in orthodontic treatment with fixed appliance
The OrthoHelp application was developed on the Android Studio platform, using Java language and the following hash algorithms: SHA-1, MD5 and SHA-256. OrthoHelp was registered with the National Institute of Industrial Property under number 512019000555-4. In terms of content, the information was distributed through texts and videos in four main sessions: general guidelines; guidelines on oral hygiene; information on diet; information and guidance for possible unfavorable intercurrences. The full content was evaluated and validated by eight orthodontic specialists crowded at different universities. For this evaluation, a link was sent that allowed access to the virtual questionnaire. The experts evaluated the information presented in OrthoHelp by answering questions whose response options followed a Likert scale. The results revealed that the content of OrthoHelp received a high final score of approval (82%). Another questionnaire to evaluate whether this content will be able to improve the patients' understanding regarding orthodontic treatment with fixed appliance was elaborated. The Cronbach's α coefficient score (0.748) showed that the questionnaire is a consistent and reliable instrument. The content of OrthoHelp seems to be clear and useful. Therefore, its use may benefit patients in orthodontic treatment with a fixed appliance.