Özet:

Objective: The World Health Organization declared a COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Dentists and their patients are at a particularly higher risk of infection, emphasizing the need for implementation of measures preventing the spread of the virus during emergency dental treatments. YouTube, a digital platform where anyone can upload videos and get feedback from other users about their content, represents a significant resource for accessing information. The aim of the current study was to analyze the content quality and reliability of YouTube videos on the topics of coronavirus and dentistry. Methods: The keywords “coronavirus” and “dentistry” were used to identify relevant videos on YouTube. Approximately 120 videos uploaded between March and November 2020, were reviewed by two independent researchers. Of these, 91 videos fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were scored for content quality and reliability. Results: The majority of videos analyzed were uploaded by public institutions, associations, or hospitals (35.2%) and had a target audience made up of the general population (79.1%). The coronavirus index and total index scores of the videos uploaded by public institutions were significantly higher than those uploaded by dentists (p = 0.017 p < 0.05 p = 0.006 p < 0.01). The mean modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) score, used to assess the reliability of the videos, was 2.88 ± 1.08. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that specialist physicians should play a more active role in sharing accurate educational videos. Although YouTube, a popular video streaming site, is a valuable resource for accessing useful and accurate information, it also contains large amounts of incomplete and incorrect information which is a significant disadvantage as it can confuse the general public and healthcare professionals and prevent identification of videos produced or verified by authorized healthcare professionals.

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