In a bright computer lab at a Malaysian secondary school, a student leans in toward the screen, eyes fixed on his avatar brushing its animated teeth. A pop-up quiz blinks onto the interface. He clicks through confidently, then grins. “This is like a game, but you actually learn something.”
That moment, simple as it was, encapsulated the vision behind our research: What if oral health education could be delivered through a metaverse platform?
We live in a time where adolescents are increasingly shaped by digital worlds. TikTok teaches them slang. Roblox builds their creativity. Discord connects their identities. Yet public health education, especially in oral health, lags far behind, often clinging to printed pamphlets or one-off classroom lectures. Recognising this disconnect, our team posed a question that would lead us into conversations with 81 adolescents with 16 focus group discussions (FGD) across four states of science colleges for adolescents in Malaysia: Could the metaverse become a place where oral health education feels engaging, relevant, and personal?
Listening to Adolescents: A Focus Group Study
Rather than assuming what adolescents need, we wanted to hear directly from them. What excites them? What frustrates them in current health education methods? What would make them want to return to an educational platform voluntarily?
To find answers, we stepped into the schools with backpacks, audio recorders, consent forms in hand, and sat with students in small circles. These weren’t always easy conversations. Some participants were shy, hesitant. Others lit up with ideas. Some mirrored each other’s answers at first, cautious in a group setting. But as trust grew, so did their honesty.
“Make it like TikTok, but smart,” said one.
“We want to explore, not just click ‘next,’” said another.
What We Found
Several key themes emerged. Adolescents appreciated the freedom to explore, the potential for gamification, and the visual quality of immersive environments. They desired customisable avatars, short-form videos, interactive posters, and even educational simulations with consequences, reflecting a desire for both entertainment and meaningful engagement.
Interestingly, students emphasised the need for age-appropriate content, acknowledging that different users might prefer different tones or visual styles. Some even proposed differentiated platforms based on developmental stages, a sophisticated insight rarely discussed in mainstream health education design.
These weren’t just requests. They were reflections of how adolescents navigate meaning in a digital world. When they spoke, they weren’t just asking for better features—they were inviting us into their cultures of learning.
Why This Matters
This study is the first, to our knowledge, to explore adolescent perceptions of a metaverse platform dedicated to oral health education. It contributes not only to oral health promotion literature but also to broader conversations about digital public health innovation. The findings are already shaping the ongoing development of Meta-OHE and laying the foundation for future implementation and evaluation studies.
Crucially, this work emphasises the co-design process. Involving adolescents in the ideation and development of health interventions ensures relevance, usability, and long-term sustainability. Meta-OHE is not just for adolescents; it is with adolescents. This isn’t just about brushing techniques. It’s about empowering a generation to see health as something they can shape, understand, and own.
What Comes Next
The development does not stop at design. Our next steps include refining the platform based on these insights, integrating AR/VR components, and piloting the Meta-OHE system in real-world educational settings. We believe this project holds great potential for blended health learning models, especially in school-based and community oral health programs. We also plan to move beyond co-design and development into pilot testing within real-world school settings, allowing us to evaluate how adolescents interact with the platform in everyday educational contexts.
Crucially, accessibility lies at the core of our design philosophy. In public health, the most effective innovations are those that reach people where they already are. Today’s adolescents carry the world in their pockets. With mobile phone usage nearly ubiquitous among youth in Malaysia and beyond, Meta-OHE has been deliberately built for seamless mobile access. Whether at home, at school, or on the move, adolescents can access oral health content at their fingertips, in ways that feel natural, personalised, and relevant to their lived realities.
Looking ahead, Meta-OHE will move toward greater intelligence and interactivity through the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and ambient computing. These technologies will enable personalised learning pathways, adaptive quizzes, real-time feedback, and conversational agents that respond to users’ engagement levels, emotional cues, and knowledge gaps. With AI-powered analytics and embedded ambient systems, Meta-OHE aims to evolve into a responsive, data-informed educational ecosystem, making oral health promotion not only immersive but also intelligent and deeply contextualised.
But more than that, we hope this study opens the door for others to think differently about how we listen to youth, how we design interventions, and how we blur the line between learning and play.
The metaverse isn’t just a futuristic concept. For adolescents, it’s already here. And if we can meet them there, with curiosity, humility, and collaboration, we may not only educate more effectively but also honour the diverse ways young people learn, grow, and shape the world around them.
About the Team
Meta-OHE is an innovation developed as part of the doctoral thesis by Amirul Faiz Luai, Doctor in Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, UiTM. This work was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Nawwal Alwani Mohd Radzi, Associate Professor Dr. Budi Aslinie Md Sabri, and Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Eddy Hasrul Hassan. The development of Meta-OHE was a collaborative effort through a university–industry collaboration between the Faculty of Dentistry, UiTM and VTF and was supported through incentives and a grant provided by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).