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Updated: Jun 29, 2025
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Development and evaluation of a new website on oral health and Down syndrome
Gemma Rey Otero1, Berta Rivas Mundiña1, Eliane García-Mato1
1Medical-Surgical Dentistry Research Group (OMEQUI), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Aims:
The objective of this study was to develop a new website in Spanish on oral health and dental care for use by the relatives/caregivers of individuals with Down syndrome, with the aim of incorporating the strengths and avoids the deficiencies of existing websites.
Methods:
A freely accessible website was developed with dental content, whose access criteria included the age of the individual undergoing the consultation and the area of interest (tongue or teeth disease, oral functionality, oral hygiene, and dental visits). The definitive version of the website was analyzed by five external examiners, applying the DISCERN criteria and the Questionnaire to Evaluate Health Web Sites According to European Criteria (QEEC). The website's traffic during the first year of activity was recorded.
Results:
The new website is known as "DentiDown", and its access domain is https://odontoloxia-accessible.org/dentidown/. On the home screen, the age group of interest to the user can be accessed. A dropdown menu then opens, listing the various options according to the area of interest. The oral hygiene section provides advice for improving toothbrushing efficacy through demonstration videos. With the DISCERN tool, an overall score of 4.75 ± 0.5 was achieved. With the QEEC, the external examiners' general opinion was highly favorable. The website received the seal of quality from the Accredited Medical Web (AMW). During the first year of activity, a total of 4536 visits from a total of 45 countries were recorded.
Conclusion:
A new Spanish website has been developed on oral health for use by the relatives/caregivers of individuals with Down syndrome. The website has been favorably evaluated by external experts and, to date, is the only one with these characteristics with the AMW seal of quality.
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