Digital Phenotyping and AI for Paediatric Oral-Health Behaviour Monitoring: Parent Perspectives and Restorative Implications
Digital phenotyping, Artificial intelligence, Parental perception, Behavioural monitoring, Preventive and restorative dentistry
AuthorsAbstractBackground: Digitalization of childhood has remodelled behavioural, cognitive and emotional development. As the utilisation of smartphones, wearables, and AI tools increases, digital phenotyping has become a new method to track behavioural and developmental health in children such as behaviours associated with oral health and preventive and restorative care. Nevertheless, there is little empirical data combining behavioural signs of children with the parental acceptance of AI-based surveillance systems, especially in the context of developing countries. Objective: The purpose of this research was to investigate the patterns of behaviour in children at the age of 2-12 years and the parental awareness and intention to implement AI-based monitoring with a particular emphasis on behavioural or oral-health practices pertinent to preventive and restorative dentistry. Methods: A quantitative and cross-sectional survey was carried out on 100 parents through a structured questionnaire. It contained behavioural measures (screen time, hours of sleep, attention span, frequency of brushing teeth, frequency of eating sugary snacks, frequency of visiting the dentist, frequency of caries/bruxism as reported by parents). Quantitative and qualitative data were interpreted by using descriptive, correlation, and thematic analysis. Results: The mean daily screen exposure among children was 2.8 hours, while the average sleep duration was 8.7 hours. Screen time negatively correlated with both attention span (r = –0.43) and sleep duration (r = –0.31) highlighting meaningful relationships between digital exposure and behavioural outcomes. Parental awareness of digital phenotyping was 56%, and 59% of respondents expressed willingness to adopt AI-driven child monitoring tools. However, privacy and data security concerns persisted. Higher screen time was also associated with less favourable oral-health behaviours (e.g., reduced toothbrushing frequency and higher sugary-snack frequency), indicating potential pathways to increased restorative risk. Conclusion: The findings indicate that while AI-based digital monitoring offers potential for enhancing early behavioural assessment, ethical considerations and parental trust remain critical. Integrating parental perspectives into AI design frameworks can foster responsible and familycentered digital health ecosystems. The paper adds empirical data in a developing-country setting to the current discussions on ethical and familycentred AI in child health. It also aids the integration of AI tools based on family concerns into the dental prevention strategies among paediatrics to enhance the behaviours that affect the restorative outcomes. 1. Introduction 1.1 Background of the Study The growing digitalization of society has reshaped the way children develop, learn and communicate, making technology a part of almost all aspects of development. The use of digital technologies, including smartphones, tablets, •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ejprd.org - Published by Riset Publishing Services LLC.
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