YouTube as a source of information for silver diamine fluoride: A content and quality analysis

In today's era of social media, several YouTube videos are available on the use of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) in children. However, the content needs to be evaluated critically so that parents/caregivers and general dentists know the accurate and reliable information about this caries preventive agent.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and content of YouTube videos about the use of SDF for parents/caregivers and general dentists.

A systematic YouTube™ search was conducted using the keywords "SDF, pediatric dentists, children, dental caries" with the filter set to "sort by relevance." The selected videos were evaluated in terms of content and quality using a customized five-point scale and Modified Global Quality Score. The accuracy and reliability of the videos were assessed using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria. Metrics recorded included number of views, duration, days since upload, comments, likes, dislikes, interaction index, and viewing rate. Independent sample t-test, Chi-square test, and correlation coefficient were employed for the analysis of the quantitative variables.

Out of 200 videos initially retrieved, 66 videos were selected for final analysis. Most of the videos (53, 83.3%) were uploaded by pediatric dentists/dentists. The median total content score was 3 (interquartile range = 3) with 23 (35%) scored as high and 43 (65%) as low-content score. Overall, only 13 (20%) videos were completely reliable as per the JAMA criteria and 14 (21.2%) videos were graded as the high-quality videos.

The analysis revealed a lack of high-quality, reliable information on SDF for educating the parents and caregivers. Improved content quality is needed to inform parents/caregivers and general dentists about SDF's benefits and limitations.