Picture perfect: study protocol for assessing the accuracy, feasibility and acceptability of intraoral photographs captured by parents for remote dental screening in children – an observational mixed-methods study

Background Children with limited access to dental care can be negatively impacted by reduced frequency of oral health monitoring, delays in diagnosis of dental disease and increased waits for dental care, resulting in them experiencing more disease (extent and amount). Smartphone-based intraoral photography has been cited as having the potential to improve oral health monitoring for children through screening; however, it has not been well evaluated, and its limitations are unclear. The picture-perfect study aims to assess diagnostic accuracy, feasibility and acceptability to determine whether remote photographic monitoring can be effectively integrated into pathways of dental care for children aged 6-16 years.Methods Observational, cross-sectional, mixed-methods study with three workflows: Workflow 1: development of user-friendly, comprehensive guidance to help parent/carers (parents) take high-quality intraoral photographs of their children’s mouths. The guidance will be codesigned with parents and healthcare professionals. Workflow 2: diagnostic accuracy using intraoral photographs taken by a parent of their children will be evaluated by comparing clinicians' diagnoses from the photographs to gold-standard clinical visual-tactile examinations. Parent–child dyads (n=110) will be recruited to capture intraoral photographs using positioning aids, guidance and smartphones provided by the research team. The diagnoses will focus on plaque accumulation, gingival health, restoration status and dental caries. Diagnostic accuracy will be assessed using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve. Workflow 3: assessment of feasibility and acceptability will be through task completion rates, photograph quality and participant feedback. Qualitative interviews and an online survey will capture parents’ and children’s experiences. Observational data will provide insights into practical challenges.Ethics and dissemination This study, approved by the National Health Service (NHS) Research Ethics Committee (Integrated Research Application System [IRAS]: 24/EE0137), will be conducted in adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participating parents, with age-appropriate assent from children prior to enrolment. Participants have the right to withdraw at any time without explanation, and their data will be anonymised to ensure privacy and confidentiality. Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations and reports to relevant stakeholders.Trial registration The study protocol has been registered on the Open Science Framework: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WX29D.