Ectopic and impacted maxillary canines: A quality evaluation of online information

Abstract

Objective: To determine the quality of online information regarding ectopic and impacted maxillary canines (EIMCs). Design: A cross-sectional survey on the Internet. Material and methods: An online search using eight terms was carried out using four search engines. The relevant content of websites satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed for quality by applying three quality of information instruments and one readability tool. Statistical analyses were performed through GraphPad Prism 9.0. Results: In total, 77 websites were evaluated. Most of the assessed content was associated with oral and maxillofacial surgery (49.35%) and orthodontic websites (31.18%). The overall mean DISCERN score was 38.05 ± 9.76/80 with 59.73% of websites recording a poor or very poor score. Three (3.9%) websites contained the HONCode seal. Twelve (15.58%) websites satisfied at least three out of a maximum four JAMA benchmarks and 11 (14.29%) satisfied none. The mean SMOG score was 9.81 ± 1.52 (95% confidence interval = 9.46–10.16; range = 6.7–15.1). Conclusion: The quality of online information related to EIMCs was poor and the content was difficult to read. Professional societies and clinicians should consider the use of quality of information and readability tools to enable the provision for reliable, high-quality and readable online information. This will assist EIMC treatment-related decision-making and management by patients and their families.

Quality assessment of available Internet information on early orthodontic treatment

“…In the study of Meade and Dreyer [ 30 ], in which they evaluated the quality of information on the Internet about orthodontic temporary anchorage devices, it was seen that only one of the 31 websites they examined had HONcode. Likewise, in Meade and Dreyer [ 31 ] study on ectopic canine teeth in 2022, only 3 of 77 websites had HONcode.…”