Orthodontic Unit, School of Dentistry, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Aust Dent J. 2021 Mar;66(1):77-84. doi: 10.1111/adj.12810. Epub 2020 Dec 15.
The use of direct-to-consumer (DTC) orthodontic aligners is growing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of information contained within the websites of DTC orthodontic aligner providers.
Websites that satisfied inclusion criteria were assessed for the presence of specific treatment-related features. Four validated quality of information instruments and readability tools were used to evaluate the content of the websites. Descriptive statistical analyses and intra-examiner reliability tests were performed.
Twenty-one websites were evaluated. Few websites referred to the need for pre-treatment dental health (38.1%) and indefinite post-treatment retention (23.8%). Most websites (95.2%) were categorized as either 'poor' or 'very poor' according to their DISCERN scores. DISCERN items regarding information bias and treatment risks scored particularly poorly. Cohen's kappa intra-examiner reliability testing for DISCERN scores was 0.81-0.89. Three websites honoured two out of the four Journal of the American Medical Association benchmarks and 18 honoured one benchmark only. The readability scores indicated 'difficult to read' content.
The quality of information contained within the websites of DTC orthodontic aligner providers is poor. Patient consent for DTC aligner treatment based solely on the information contained within the websites is likely to be invalid.
直接面向消费者（DTC）的正畸矫正器的使用正在增加。本研究的目的是评估 DTC 正畸矫正器供应商网站中包含的信息质量。
评估符合纳入标准的网站是否存在特定的治疗相关特征。使用四个经过验证的信息质量工具和可读性工具来评估网站的内容。进行描述性统计分析和内部检验员可靠性测试。
评估了 21 个网站。很少有网站提到需要进行治疗前的口腔健康检查（38.1%）和不确定的治疗后保持（23.8%）。根据 DISCERN 评分，大多数网站（95.2%）被归类为“差”或“很差”。关于信息偏差和治疗风险的 DISCERN 项目评分特别差。DISCERN 评分的内部检验员可靠性测试 Cohen's kappa 值为 0.81-0.89。有三个网站符合《美国医学会杂志》的四个基准中的两个，有 18 个网站仅符合一个基准。可读性评分表明内容“难以阅读”。
DTC 正畸矫正器供应商网站中包含的信息质量很差。仅基于网站中包含的信息就同意 DTC 矫正器治疗的患者的同意可能是无效的。
