Canadian orthodontist Internet user profile

Quality and reliability of web-based information regarding restorative treatment in pediatric patients

Purpose:

The aim of the present study is to assess the quality and reliability of web-based information about restorative treatment in pediatric patients on the internet using different scales.

Materials and methods:

Websites obtained by using keywords about restorative treatment in pediatric patients on Google and Yandex were included in the study. The study was conducted in English on a total of 440 websites. Websites were evaluated using the quality criteria for consumer health information (DISCERN toolkit), Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, and Health on the Net Code of Conduct Certification (HONCode).

Results:

The mean DISCERN points of the websites were moderate. Among the evaluated websites, the quality of the knowledge in 20% of the websites was low. The rate of websites with a score below 40 was 37.5%. None of them has reached an excellent score. No websites met all JAMA criteria. There was no HONCode Certificate on any website.

Conclusion:

This study showed that the quality of the web-based information about restorative treatment in pediatric patients was generally inadequate and scientifically imperfect.

Information on the Internet Regarding Orthognathic Surgery in Turkey: Is It an Adequate Guide for Potential Patients?

Objective

To evaluate the quality of information on websites regarding orthognathic surgery in Turkey using the DISCERN toolkit.

Methods

An Internet search was performed using the Google search engine with the terms "orthognathic surgery", "jaw surgery", "jaw operation", "correcting jaw surgery", and "surgery orthodontics." The first 25 websites obtained after searching for each term were evaluated. Duplicate websites, advertisements, discussion groups, links to research articles, videos, and images were not considered. The remaining websites were analyzed using the DISCERN toolkit. This toolkit is composed of 15 questions that were scored from 1 to 5. Results were calculated as mean scores, percentages, and ranges.

Results

Among the 36 evaluated websites, 12 (33.3%) belonged to plastic surgeons, 11 (30.6%) belonged to orthodontists, 8 (22.2%) belonged to private dental clinics, 3 (8.3%) belonged to maxillofacial surgeons, 1 (2.8%) was a professional organization website, and 1 (2.8%) belonged to a private hospital. The Turkish Orthodontic Society had the only listed professional organization website. The mean total DISCERN score was 28/75 (range: 15-48). The overall quality of information in 44.4% of the websites was low. The main problems of websites were as follows: no mention of the aims, sources, and production time of information; no links for additional sources of information; and no information for patient carers.

Conclusion

The quality of web-based information on orthognathic surgery was generally low. Higher quality information provided by public organizations that do not have profit concerns is required.