Evaluating the Dental Caries-Related Information on Brazilian Websites: Qualitative Study

• Published in: Journal of medical Internet research 2017-12, Vol.19 (12), p.e415-e415
• Main Authors: Aguirre, Patricia Estefania Ayala, Coelho, Melina Martins, Rios, Daniela, Machado, Maria Aparecida Andrade Moreira, Cruvinel, Agnes Fátima Pereira, Cruvinel, Thiago
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Authorship; Averages; Brazilian Portuguese; Carbohydrates; Caries; Cluster analysis; Clustering; Consumer Health Information - methods; Counseling; Dental caries; Dental Caries - pathology; Dental Caries - therapy; Dentists; Etiology; Examiners; Health information; Health Information Exchange - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Internet - statistics & numerical data; Medical personnel; Multimedia; Oral health; Original Paper; Professional relationships; Professionals; Qualitative Research; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Questionnaires; Ratings & rankings; Readability; Search Engine - methods; Search engines; Search strategies; Specialization; Statistical analysis; Stimulus; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teeth; Websites
• ISSN: 1438-8871; 1439-4456; 1438-8871
• DOI: 10.2196/jmir.7681

Dental caries is the most common chronic oral disease, affecting 2.4 billion people worldwide who on average have 2.11 decayed, missing, or filled teeth. It impacts the quality of life of patients, socially and economically. However, the comprehension of dental caries may be difficult for most people, as it involves a multifactorial etiology with the interplay between the tooth surface, the dental biofilm, dietary fermentable carbohydrates, and genetic and behavioral factors. Therefore, the production of effective materials addressed to the education and counseling of patients for the prevention of dental caries requires a high level of specialization. In this regard, the dental caries-related contents produced by laypersons and their availability on the Internet may be low-quality information. The aim of this study was to assess the readability and the quality of dental caries-related information on Brazilian websites. A total of 75 websites were selected through Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Baidu. The websites were organized in rankings according to their order of appearance in each one of the 4 search engines. Furthermore, 2 independent examiners evaluated the quality of websites using the DISCERN questionnaire and the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria. The readability of the websites was assessed by the Flesch Reading Ease adapted to Brazilian Portuguese (FRE-BP). In addition, the information presented on the websites was categorized as etiology, prevention, and treatment of dental caries. The statistical analysis was performed using Spearman rank correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney U test, hierarchical clustering analysis by Ward minimum variance method, Kruskal-Wallis test, and post hoc Dunn test. P