In our study, we aimed to combine the benefits of peer influence and the accessibility of educational videos via social media to enhance children’s knowledge on oral hygiene. To achieve this, a peer-led reels video was created. This study, which examines the effectiveness of a peer-led reels video in improving children’s knowledge of oral hygiene compared to traditional education methods involving animated videos and verbal explanations with dental models, is the first of its kind in this field. This study resulted in a model that can explains 28% of the variance in post-education knowledge acquired through different educational methods, gender, and tablet/mobile phone usage.

There is no consensus on when children should be given oral hygiene education. Some researchers suggest that this should begin with parental education and parental guidance at birth [5, 21], while others recommend the school age [22]. In this study, children were directed to questions about oral hygiene and they answered these questions themselves at school. According to the latest issue of the Turkish Oral and Dental Health Research Report, the most common reason for visiting a dentist in our country is due to a dental problem with a rate of 90.4%, and when analysed by age, the age of the first visit to the dentist is most common (22.4%) around the age of 10 years [23]. At the same time, this age-group was selected as their development would enable them to understand cause-and-effect relationships and use logic to answer the questions, which is consistent with previous research [4, 24].

For a long time, lectures delivered by teachers in classrooms have been the most common form of teaching and learning. The main advantage of this method is the direct interaction between the teacher and students, which allows for feedback through eye contact during the lesson [1]. However, students process information in different ways, and as a result, various educational approaches such as verbal, written, visual, and auditory methods are effective in supporting learning. Given the diversity in learning styles, it is well-established that various educational methods can play a role in oral and dental health education programs, and that a single health education approach is unlikely to be suitable for all students [25]. With the advancement of technology and the increasing prevalence of children using technological devices, there is a need to integrate new methods for delivering oral health education [26]. Therefore, a main point of our study, traditional dental model verbal explanations were compared to animation videos and peer-led reels video methods for providing oral hygiene education. In addition, another main point of our study is to observe the effect of this verbal explanations and other educational methods, especially in children who are not exposed to technological devices such as tablet/mobile phone. According to the findings of our study, all three educational methods were effective, with an increase in children’s knowledge levels observed after the interventions. The limited knowledge of oral hygiene in children before the education and the increase in knowledge and awareness with education demonstrate the need for oral and dental health education programs in schools.

With the increasing accessibility of technological devices (such as tablets, mobile phones, and computers) and the rise in social media usage among children, changes are occurring in their learning perceptions [27]. Multimedia, which includes video and particularly cartoon animation, is extensively researched as an instructional aid [28]. The colorful characters and animated stories increase children’s focus on education, making the conveyed messages more interesting and entertaining [12]. Additionally, these contents provide a standard level of education and can be repeated in the same format according to the viewers’ needs. Therefore, it is possible to prevent knowledge discrepancies that may arise in education given at different times or through different experts using traditional methods [29]. Peer leaders are also mentioned in the literature as an alternative to experts in transferring knowledge. The effectiveness of this method is supported by social learning theories that propose that sensitive information is more easily shared among peers of similar age [13]. However, there is no consensus in the literature regarding the roles of these methods in oral and dental health education.

In studies comparing traditional and animation-based methods, Alhayek et al. [17] state that both methods are applicable, while Sinor [18], concludes that the animation environment is more effective and sustainable in providing oral health education. In their study, Gavic et al. [4] found that there was no statistically significant difference in the knowledge acquired by children through traditional methods and videos. However, after the education conducted through brochures, they found that children had a lower level of knowledge, but all three educational methods were effective. Yeo et al. [3] who investigated the effect of peer-led videos on oral hygiene, stated that it was effective in improving the overall oral hygiene knowledge of third-grade students. In our study, in addition to traditional methods and animation, peer-led reels videos, which have not been previously examined in the literature, were included. The effect of educational methods on knowledge level after education was observed to be 3.8%, while there was no effect of gender and tablet/mobile phone use on knowledge level. The effect of gender and tablet use on the level of knowledge after education was not observed. This situation is associated with the progress of education in our society, independent of gender characteristics, and the high probability of children being exposed to tablets/mobile phones in today’s conditions, even if they do not own them.

In our study, children who received education through animated videos had the highest level of knowledge after the education, while similar results were found in children who received education through traditional methods. Additionally, peer-led education with reels videos resulted in lower knowledge acquisition compared to other methods. This finding provides evidence that the attractiveness of animations to children leads to an increased focus on the information provided by the animation [26].

Furthermore, it is believed that the traditional method of education, which is familiar to children who are accustomed to didactic education provided by teachers in classrooms, contributes to higher learning. Although it has been suggested that peer-led education is equally or more effective than that provided by teachers [14], our study indicates that the lower knowledge acquisition observed in the peer-led reels video may be attributed to its lack of audio, as it appeals solely to the visual sense, in contrast to other methods that engage both visual and auditory senses. Additionally, this silent video was only played once for the children, which means that there is a possibility that some information may have been conveyed too quickly, without allowing the children to focus or make meaningful connections.

Our study is characterized by the evaluation of the effectiveness of three different educational methods, including the first-time application of peer-led reels videos, and the implementation of these methods on students with varying characteristics in different schools, which constitutes the strength of our study.

The first limitation of the study is that it was conducted in only one region in Turkey. Secondly, the effect of the voice of the educator in the animation video between genders could not be evaluated.

In this study, gender, tablet/mobile phone use and three different educational methods (verbal lecture, animation video and peer-led reels video) were able to clarify 28% of the issue of improving children’s oral hygiene knowledge. There is a need to clarify the 72% part that has not yet been resolved by evaluating personal demographic data and different educational methods that may affect knowledge gains in future studies. In our study, it was observed that learning with audio and visual stimuli was more significant. Based on this, we believe that it would be useful to evaluate the learning curves of children with tools such as virtual reality that appeal to more than one sense. Also as in other health education fields, there is a problem with retaining and applying knowledge in oral hygiene education. Therefore, there is a need for new studies that reach broader audiences nationwide, which follow up on the application of practices in children after gaining knowledge.