EXAMINATION of YOUTUBE VIDEOS ABOUT TOOTH BRUSHING in CHILDREN[

Objectives: Mechanical removal of plaque from the tooth surface is necessary to protect oral health and prevent dental caries. Tooth brushing should be started as soon as the first tooth appears in the child's mouth. Today, most families have access to the Internet through smartphones. The internet environment has become a source of information that families can easily access, especially on health-related issues. The aim of this study is to examine YouTube videos about children's tooth brushing.
Methods: The first 100 videos in Turkish on YouTube using the keyword 'tooth brushing in children' were evaluated for the study. The evaluations were carried out by two paediatric dentists on the same day. Non-Turkish videos, duplicates, off-topic videos, animations, and videos longer than 15 minutes were excluded from the evaluation. Video duration, number of views, number of likes, number of dislikes, number of comments, time elapsed from upload date to present, video source and video server were recorded. Interaction indices and view rates were calculated.
Results: Of the first 100 videos found in the YouTube search, 52 were excluded due to language, repetition, animation and irrelevant content. Of the 48 videos included, 32 (66%) were found to be presented by specialist doctors. The average length of the videos was 1.88 minutes. A total of 48 videos were found to have an average of 7758 views, 68 likes, 29 comments and 1810 day elapsed time.
Conclusions: It has been observed that the videos on YouTube about children's tooth brushing are quite inadequate in terms of providing parents with correct information. Healthcare professionals should refer parents to professional resources and dentists should pay attention to producing better quality content on this platform.