Evaluation of quality and reliability of videos about orthodontics on TikTok (DouYin)

Abstract

TikTok is the world’s most popular short video application, where orthodontics-related content is viewed billions of times. This study aimed to evaluate the quality and reliability of video content about orthodontics on TikTok. TikTok mobile application was searched for videos with the hashtag “#orthodontics” on July 9, 2021. The content and quality of the first 150 videos were evaluated using the global quality score (GQS) and reliability score (modified DISCERN tool) which is an evaluation tool for health information on social media. The mean of the two researchers’ GQS values and reliability score was 2.1 ± 1.1 and 1.2 ± 1.4, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the median values of GQS and reliability score according to categorical descriptive variables (P > 0.050). A statistically significant weak positive correlation was found between like no. and reliability scores (r = 0.245; P = 0.037). Most of the videos were uploaded by orthodontists (72.6%). Both the quality and reliability of the content about orthodontics on TikTok were very low. Even the most of the accounts were professionals, they did not prefer to give scientific information due to the medium’s own dynamics and target population’s likes.