Online Bruxism-related information: Can people understand what they read? A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND

Bruxism patients often access the web to search for information. Unfortunately, the low text readability of online material and the limited medical literacy in the general population may prevent patients' understanding of health information.

OBJECTIVE(S): We aimed to assess the home page's readability of the top 10 patients-oriented bruxism-related websites and the educational level required to approach them.

METHODS

Using the word bruxism in the "no country redirect" extension of Google Chrome browser (www.google.com/ncr), we identified the first 10 patient-oriented English language websites. The readability of the material was determined using six commonly recommended readability tests (1): Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Coleman Liau Index (CLI), Automated Readability Index (ARI) Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), Flesch Kincald Grade Level (FKGL), Flesh Reasing Ease (FRE).

RESULTS

The USA National Institutes of Health requirements, which call for websites to be readable at a 6th to 7th-grade level, were not followed by any of the most popular websites.

CONCLUSION

The average consumer frequently finds the health information on the Internet to be too complex to understand, which can lead to misinterpretation, a delay in diagnosis, and poorer health consequences.