The availability of open-access videos offered by dental schools

The Internet has become an established learning tool in dental education where students can access online videos on a range of dental subjects. However, finding reliable peer-reviewed content is not straightforward.

To evaluate the video content offered by UK and Republic of Ireland (RoI) Dental Schools on their YouTube channels and public websites.

Free videos offered on UK and RoI Dental schools websites and YouTube channels were watched and set according to its purpose, as educational or non-educational. The number of views, length, category and date of publication were analysed.

A total of 627 videos offered by dental courses were evaluated. Videos were available on 83% of the websites, but only 9% was educational content. Dental courses YouTube channels received more than 2.3 million views, but less than 5% of the material offered is educational. Instructional videos found on the websites (3.2 min) were shorter than those found on YouTube (8.5 min) (P = .03). The majority of the videos, provided by Universities, were not educational and focused on promoting the dental courses. Most websites have demonstrated a password-protected area where quality content may be offered.

Students wishing to watch instructional videos will find limited educational content provided by UK and RoI dental courses. Therefore, they are likely to access course-related material elsewhere on the Internet that may not be necessarily peer-reviewed.