Quality of Tooth-Whitening Videos Available on YouTube

Abstract

Objective: To compare how the quality of YouTube videos on tooth whitening uploaded by healthcare professionals and laypersons. Material and Methods: The video that was uploaded in a year was collected on YouTube using the keywords tooth whitening and dental bleaching. The exclusion criteria were duplicate videos, advertisements, no sound, too short duration, and lectures. The variables analyzed were likes/dislikes, viewers, interaction index, viewing rate, usefulness, global quality scale (GQS), and comprehensiveness score. Two observers reviewed the videos independently. Data were analyzed descriptively and analytically. Results: A total of 106 videos were selected, and most were uploaded by laypersons (70.8%). The observer reliability test showed excellent agreement with the intraclass correlation coefficient score minimum of 0.876. There were significant differences in dislikes (p=0.003), views (p=0.016), interaction index (p=0.010), usefulness (p=0.030), GQS (p<0.0001), and comprehensiveness (p=0.014) between healthcare professionals and laypersons. Videos made by laypersons had higher numbers of dislikes and viewing rates, whereas healthcare professionals were higher in usefulness, GQS, and comprehensiveness. Conclusion: Videos uploaded by laypersons provide low-accurate information despite being popular among viewers. Viewers need to be selective in seeking information from YouTube as a resource for oral healthcare decision-related tooth whitening.