Magazine Monday: Truth vs. Trends

Open Instagram and search “root canal.” Despite decades of clinical evidence supporting endodontic care as one of dentistry’s most reliable, evidence-based procedures, a 2025 peer-reviewed study in Dentistry Journal found that 75 of 100 social posts on the topic—three out of four—told viewers to avoid root canals. Many came from licensed dentists chasing viral hooks. Together, those posts collected nearly 14,000 likes.

To counter this misinformation, we at the American Association of Endodontists (AAE) made a decision a few years ago that continues to define our strategy: stop treating health misinformation as a communications problem. It’s a clinical concern, a public health issue, and a growing threat to patient trust in evidence-based care. Every day we didn’t show up was a day misinformation went unchecked in the algorithms that shape what patients believe before they ever walk into a clinic.

The decision didn’t come together overnight. We worked through hard questions about scope, cost, and feasibility. But misinformation moves at the speed of an algorithm—and traditional communications channels can’t keep up. Our primary goal in this effort was to support our members and help patients make informed decisions about their care. Once we reframed it that way, the path was clear. We built a creator-led, member-amplified strategy designed to meet misinformation where it lives. What we learned is now a framework that any association can adapt.

Step One: Name the Threat Before It Names You

Every association is downstream of this. Doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, engineers, educators—wherever you sit, your members are watching their expertise be re-litigated by accounts with massive reach and no professional accountability. That presents a serious risk to any field.

The numbers made the case for us. The American Press Institute reports that 71% of Gen Z and millennials get their news from social media at least daily. Pew Research found that one in five Americans now regularly receives their news from social media influencers—and among Gen Z, the share rises to 37%, higher than print, cable, or network television combined. Once you frame misinformation as a structural shift in how trust is formed, the conversation moves from “should we?” to “how fast?”

Step Two: Meet Audiences Where Trust Already Lives

Associations have decades of expertise. What we don’t always have is reach where misinformation actually spreads. Building a real audience on TikTok or Instagram takes years, and misinformation doesn’t wait. So, AAE partnered with creators who had already earned trust with the audiences we needed to reach.

We worked with pediatricians trusted by parents, an emergency physician known for everyday-care explanations, a medical educator whose content history demonstrated scientific rigor, a medical resident who had built a following on myth-busting, and a prominent surgeon. The variety mattered—different audiences trust different voices, and misinformation about dental care reaches all of them.

Read the full article in the 2026 edition of Association Adviser magazine!