Özet:

Background: Internet is the most popular source of health-related information for the public in general. Aim: This study aimed to determine the content and quality of the information provided on the Turkish websites about oral lichen planus (OLP). Material and Method: An internet search was performed with the term ‘oral lichen planus’ using the Google search engine. The first 100 websites were analyzed for content presentation and quality of information by the DISCERN instrument and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria. Results: Following the application of the exclusion criteria of this study, a total of 38 websites were included. According to the affiliation, 50% of the websites belonged to the private health center, 31% health portal, 8% private hospital, 5% newspaper, 3% university, and 3% dental health center. All websites assessed by the DISCERN instrument resulted in an average score of 2.02 (±1.04), indicating low to moderate quality. None of the websites obtained the maximum score of 5. According to JAMA benchmarks obtained, four benchmarks were met in only one website (3%), and 47% fulfilled the authorship, 16% the attribution, and 34% the currency. According to the content presentation, no website had content exclusively dedicated to OLP, 50% of the sites did not give information about biopsy, 60% for malignancy potential and 68% the importance of patients’ having oral examination once a year. Conclusion: The present findings show that the overall quality of information available on the Turkish websites about OLP is of low quality and content.

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