Orthodontic social media sites, 2020 update

This time last year, I published a post on orthodontic social media sites. I have decided to do a yearly update of this post.  I have updated the list with comments on the direction that the sites have taken.

I use social media a lot in obtaining information for this blog. I also use it for updating people on when I post.  As a result, I have probably spent an unhealthy amount of time using social media.

I have come across many orthodontic and research sites. Some of these are excellent, some very poor and some just weird. This is a simple list of the main sites that I have come across, and I hope that you find it useful.

Orthodontic Blogs

The Orthodontic Professors

This was an excellent blog that is run by staff at the University of North Carolina. They provided updates on recent papers. They also have an exciting series of posts called “think pieces”. These are invited articles and address areas of orthodontics that are controversial.  Bill Proffit used to make a regular contribution to this blog. Unfortunately, their last post was in October 2019, and I wonder if they have now stopped this fascinating blog?  It would be great to see them continue.

Essential Biomechanics

This is going well. The author is Gustavo Gameiro from Brazil.  The posts are mostly about biomechanics and his general thoughts.  I think that this is an interesting small blog that is well worth a read.  He also has a YouTube channel that contains some interesting videos.

Facebook

Orthodontic Pearls  (6200 members)

This is a very useful USA based group.  Their main aim is to share orthodontic clinical tips and tricks. But there are also posts on recent research, controversial areas, and general orthodontic discussions. It has grown in the last year, and they consistently include interesting and sensible content. I really recommend this group.

OrthoPreneurs  (5100 members)

This is primarily directed at the business side of orthodontics, and I featured it last year.  Unfortunately, it is now very dominated by Key Opinion Leaders.  The moderators are also publishing a high number of posts that diminish the current COVID pandemic, and they were likening this to seasonal flu.  It has seriously lost its way.

Orthodontics  (33000+ members)

This is a large group of over 33,000 members. The aim is to encourage discussion on orthodontics, sleep apnea, and other issues. Mike and John Mew run this group, and they promote orthotropic treatment.    Most of the posts are about the benefits of orthotropics and harm caused by orthodontics.  In effect, this is an orthotropic group using the title orthodontics.  They do not approve all my blog posts. I am not going to post on this group any longer.

Conversations among Canadian Orthodontists  (1173 members)

This is just what it says. Most of the posts are by Canadian Orthodontists. These are on common clinical problems. There are not a lot of posts, but many of them are interesting and relevant.  I like this site.

Myofunctional Orthodontics  (13,000 members)

This is a group that is run by Myofunctional Research. This, primarily,  promotes myofunctional treatment and contains many case reports and discussions.  It is an excellent illustration of the orthodontic fringe, and I find it interesting to see what some people believe about this treatment.  They accept my posts about my blog, even when I am critical of their philosophy.

Orthodontics Study Group  (21,000 members)

Group based in Egypt. They have grown a lot in the last year.  The posts are mostly clinical tips and case reports.  It is moderated well, and there are only a few course advertisements. Again, I think that this is an interesting site.

Twitter

Cochrane Collaboration(@CochraneUK)

Cochrane Oral Health Group (@CochraneOHG )

These two Cochrane groups produce systematic reviews, and they Scientists their new and most popular reviews regularly on these feeds

Students for best evidence(@Students4BE)

Another Cochrane group. They use this to publicise their blogs on the interpretation of trials and data. This is useful.

Another group worth following is the Dental Elf. This publicises evidence based dentistry and is currently running a great series on rapid reviews of the COVID-19 crisis.  It is worth following very closely.  Their website is here and their Twitter is here.

Trisha Greenhalgh(@trishgreenhalgh)

She is Professor of Primary Care at the University of Oxford.  She wrote the classic book on “How to read a paper”. Her Twitter account is an excellent source of research information.

Hilda Bastian(@hildabast)

Scientist in the USA. She writes a great blog on statistics and uses this feed to discuss statistics, research method,s and publicity for her blog. I find this very useful.

I hope that this information is useful to you. Some of the sites are a bit esoteric and not always associated with orthodontics, but I think that they are great and well worth checking from time to time.

Update on my social media.

I would also like to update you on changes that I am making to my social media sites.  I currently have my own Facebook page and a private group called Kevin O’Brien Orthodontic Blog.  These clearly duplicate and I am shortly going to close down the page.  So if you would like to keep up with my blog via Facebook can you please join the group by clicking on this link.  I also have a personal Facebook page, but I am up to the 5,000 friends limit. While I am still going to post updates on this for a while, I am shortly going to close this down.  My Twitter, Linkedin will stay the same.