Are YouTube videos related to dental implant useful for patient education?

PURPOSE

The aim of the research was to assess the quality of obtained information from YouTube videos related to dental implant.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

"Dental implant" word was used as a key word in YouTube videos in this study. Videos were evaluated by three oral and maxillofacial surgeons. The first 150 videos were screened. After exclusion criterias, seventy-four videos were investigated regard to content's usefulness. The usefulness scores of the videos were poor (0), moderate (1) and excellent (2). Upload sources were recorded that were categorized as the individual users, health care professionals, and health companies. The type of videos was classified 3 sections: educational videos, patient's experience, and scientifically erroneous. We examined videos for the content presence in eight non-mutually exclusive domains of dental implant.

RESULTS

Seventy-four videos were evaluated. The usefulness score of the videos ranged from 0-2 and the average was 0.324. The most discussed topics were regarding with procedures of dental implant (42.57%), however, the least one was related to contraindications (1%). No significant correlation was found between the source of upload and video usefulness score (P=0.086). There was a significant difference between number of comments and the video types. (P=0.002).

CONCLUSION

Our outcome emphasized that YouTube videos related to dental implant were a limited source for the patients. Many issues regarding dental implant were ignored in these videos.