Abstract
BackgroundYouTube™ is the world’s second most popular website after Google on the Internet. The aim of this study was to assess the quality and content of information YouTube™ videos for patients seeking information about teeth whitening.MethodsThe keyword ‘teeth whitening’ was searched on YouTube™. YouTube™ was filtered by the relevance, and the first 100 videos that met the inclusion criteria were evaluated. The included videos were analyzed for views, duration, time since video upload, likes/dislikes, number of comments, source, material types (dental, natural, and other). Also, video purpose was analyzed under nine categories (definition, material preparation, the procedure of application, material comparison, before/after comparison, symptoms, post-op experience, commercial, educational). Each video was classified according to the quality of information content as ‘good’, ‘moderate’, or ‘poor’. The Kruskal-Wallis test, Fischer’s Exact test and Spearman correlation analyses were performed.ResultsMost videos were uploaded by laypersons (60.0%). The definition of teeth whitening was the most commonly covered topic (74.0%), followed by the procedure of application (54.0%), and post-op experience (36.0%). Only 12% of videos were classified as having good information quality content, 53% moderate, and 35% were rated as poor information content. Poor-information content videos had a significantly higher number of viewing rates than the other groups (P = 0.002), besides the duration was significantly higher in poor-information content videos (P =0.002). There was a significant relationship between the quality of video information and material types (P <0.001).ConclusionsYouTube™ should not be used as a thoroughly reliable and accurate source for patient information about teeth whitening. More informative and reliable content YouTube™ videos about teeth whitening should be uploaded by professionals.
Highlights
YouTubeTM is the world’s second most popular website after Google on the Internet
Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTubeTM a day, and an average user spends an average of 13 min 50 s on YouTubeTM a day, nowadays [7, 8]
The YouTubeTM videos are not reviewed by a reviewer by the nature of this platform, and the videos can be uploaded from a variety of sources and possibly of variable quality [9]
Summary
YouTubeTM is the world’s second most popular website after Google on the Internet. The aim of this study was to assess the quality and content of information YouTubeTM videos for patients seeking information about teeth whitening. The Internet offers an attractive and useful platform for patients seeking information about their health [1]. While health care professionals continue to be the most important source of information in directing the decisions of a patient, the impact of the information on the Internet is clearly visible [6]. YouTubeTM is one of the most visited websites by patients who want to access medical information, and the YouTubeTM website is the world’s second most popular website after Google on the Internet. YouTubeTM videos are entirely based on the principle of freedom of expression, and mostly unregulated [10]. This means that video sources may potentially contain inaccurate information. Most studies agree that YouTubeTM includes scientifically incorrect and sometimes misleading health-related details that could harm patients’ health [11, 12]
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