Mitigating the burden of dental caries among adolescents and young adults by targeting social media influencers.

Oral disease among young people is a major global public health concern owing to its magnitude and impact on the health, quality of life, and wellbeing of affected individuals. Modern food marketing approaches have undergone a paradigm shift from traditional advertising toward personalized digital campaigns based on the online experiences of the youth. Marketing by social media influencers is powerful as adolescents consider them relatable and trustworthy peers and not just advertisers. Social media influencers tend to shape identity formation in young people by presenting them with an idealized lifestyle and food consumption norms that they often seek to imitate. Acknowledging the high burden of dental diseases among adolescents and the youth and the growing evidence linking exposure to social media influencer marketing with consumption of unhealthy food and sugary beverages by these users, there is an immense need to take steps to mitigate the magnitude of this problem in the digital era. In conclusion, growing evidence suggests that social media influencers can shape the dietary behaviors of young people and adolescents by promoting unhealthy food and beverage choices. While direct evidence linking influencer exposure to the development of dental caries is scarce, the behavioral pathway of increased consumption of cariogenic foods and beverages represents a significant public health concern. Safeguarding the youth and adolescents from a digitally driven cariogenic environment through multisectoral interventions targeting behavioral risk factors for oral diseases is vital for reducing the future burden of oral disease. Finally, longitudinal studies are warranted to better establish the causal relationships between influencer-driven food marketing, dietary behaviors, and dental caries.