Description
Smile by Plaque HD allows users to invite friends to join the app under the profile screen. Also, the app uses location services to search for other Smile users in the area. Users can search for dentists, by name, to add to their Smile accounts and, possibly, share results.
Overview
Smile opens with guidelines on how to use the app to “identify and eliminate plaque”. Users can click “brush” to begin brushing on a 2 minute coutdown. After brushing is completed, the time spent is stored in results and displayed over days and weeks. Users can choose their dentist from a search feature. Awards can be won after so many brushing sessions. The app offers a share feature where pictures of users’ smiles can be posted in a social media feed for other Smile Users to see — a visual testament of progress through Smile’s guidelines.
Pros
By encouraging users to take pictures of their teeth to compare and post them in the Smile feed, the app encourages accountability by keeping good brushing habits through visual results. The feature of selecting a dentist and sharing logged sessions and awards also seems useful for keeping good brushing habits.
Cons
The ‘select your dentist” feature seems limited in how many dentists are stored and can be chosen. It’s unclear if the dentist a user wishes to search and choose must also be somehow registered with the app or if general, but problematic, location services are used. The feed feature doesn’t seem to allow users to chat — a standard feature in most forms of social media. A chat feature would be helpful if users wished to discuss other tips for keeping teeth healthy.
