Factors driving misinformation production and user engagement with toothache content on Facebook

Objectives: This study characterized toothache-related Portuguese Facebook posts, identifying factors driving misinformation production and user engagement. Methods: Investigators qualitatively analyzed 500 posts published between August 2018 and August 2022, screening on language and theme. Posts were selected using CrowdTangle and assessed for motivation, author profile, content, sentiment, facticity, and format. The interaction metrics (total interactions/overperforming scores) were compared between groups of dichotomized characteristics, including time of publication. Data were evaluated by descriptive analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the path analysis by generalized structural equation modeling. Results: 39.6% of posts (n = 198) contained misinformation, significantly linked to noncommercial posts with positive sentiment, links, and videos from regular users motivated by financial motivation. Additionally, user engagement was only positively associated with business/health authors' profiles and the time of publication. Conclusion: Toothache-related posts often contain misinformation, shared by regular users in links and video formats, tied to positive sentiments, and generally with financial motivation.