Evaluation of YouTube videos as a source of information about oral self-examination to detect oral cancer and precancerous lesions

Abstract

A BSTRACT Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate quality, reliability, and comprehensiveness of YouTube videos about oral self-examination to detect oral cancer and precancerous lesions and to assess whether the source, duration, quality, reliability, and/or comprehensiveness of videos influence their visibility and popularity. Materials and Methods: Videos on YouTube were searched using eight keywords similar to oral self-examination. The first 100 videos for each search term were included. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria were adhered to, and videos were assessed for quality, reliability, and comprehensiveness. Upload date, views, likes, dislikes, duration, and source of the videos were noted. Viewing rate and interaction index were calculated for each video. Results: A total of 800 videos were analyzed, 24 of which met the inclusion criteria. Majority of videos (87%) were uploaded by the healthcare group. The visibility, quality, reliability, and comprehensiveness were higher in videos uploaded by the healthcare group when compared with the non-healthcare group, but not at a level of statistical significance. The mean interaction index score of the non-healthcare group was found to be higher than the healthcare group, with statistically significant difference. Duration of videos showed an impact on the comprehensiveness of the videos. Conclusion: There are relatively few videos on oral self-examination on YouTube, and most do not have satisfactory quality, reliability, and comprehensiveness. There is a potential to increase public awareness about oral self-examination by utilizing this tool. Videos with complete and accurate information regarding oral self-examination must be uploaded to YouTube, which is currently an important source of information for the general public.

Does YouTube™ provide reliable information on oral candidiasis?

“…In the literature, there are studies that analyze the quality and viewing data of videos about various lesions in the oral region uploaded to YouTube. Some of these are about oral leukoplakia (Kovalski et al, 2019), oral cancers and precancerous lesions (Gulve et al, 2022), and lichen lesions (Morais et al, 2020; Romano et al, 2021), but as far as we noticed as a result of the literature review, this is the first study analyzing the videos uploaded to YouTube about oral candida lesions.…”

“…Although there are many videos about these lesions on YouTube, there are limited studies evaluating the quality of these videos. In some of these studies, YouTube videos giving information about Sjogren's syndrome (Delli et al, 2016), precancerous lesions (Gulve et al, 2022), oral cancers (Hassona et al, 2016), and oral leukoplakia (Kovalski et al, 2019) were analyzed. While there were 1650 items on oral leukoplakia, 3940 items on Sjogren's, and 66,400 items on oral cancers, and for this study, 308.000 videos were found on oral candida.…”

Analysis of YouTube videos as a source of information about dentin hypersensitivity

“…Studies that examine YouTube videos about various oral and dental diseases' watching patterns and video quality have been published in the literature. Some of these are about oral leukoplakia, 15 oral cancers and precancerous lesions, 16 oral candida lesions, 14 burning mouth syndrome, 17 and gingival recession, 11 but as far as we noticed because of the literature review, this is the first study analysing the videos uploaded to YouTube about DH.…”

The contribution of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy videos on YouTube to the learning curve in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Previous studies on online training videos have shown that longer videos are more comprehensive and useful. [ 25 , 26 ] We think that the video content of videos with a duration of less than 10 minutes is weak because it will not be possible to give comprehensive LPSS criteria in short videos. This would not serve our study.…”