Evaluation of the Quality of Dentistry Related Youtube Videos Made by Youtubers. Public Health Tool, or Large Scale Danger?

Context and objectives: Considering the actual influence of YouTube, it seemed important to evaluate the quality of dentistry-related videos it offers. Indeed, youtubers are becoming more and more famous and their influence among communities is growing: their advice on oral health could represent an interesting public health tool, or a large-scale danger. Method: A quality-evaluating table has been built, including 18 items to obtain a score for each video. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were established: among other items, only videos that were made by amateur youtubers (“amateur” from a medical perspective, with no medical degree) were accepted. Then, youtuber videos were classified following their score. Results: Among a study of 100 videos, 58% were of poor quality versus 42% which were better. More specifically, videos about aesthetic dentistry (tooth whitening, etc.) were those having the worst results while surgery or orthodontics videos led to significantly better results. However, we observed a positive evolution of all the results from 2011 up to the end of the study in 2016. Conclusions: Aesthetic dentistry videos were evaluated as being potentially prejudicial. They can represent a danger for the patients-viewer's oral health, whereas those relating to surgery or orthodontics were of better quality. These last ones, and finding new ways to improve the average quality of all dentistry-related amateur YouTube videos, could represent new ways to deal with oral prevention for a large audience, using youtuber's influence or involving health professionals.