“Diet and Dental Caries: A Comprehensive Content Analysis of Youtube Videos”

Abstract

Dental caries, a prevalent global health issue, shares a complex relationship with nutrition. Certain foods and eating habits, such as those high in sugar, can exacerbate dental caries, while others, like proper meal spacing, can help prevent it. YouTube serves as a widely used platform for accessing information, yet as of now, there is a notable absence of content focusing on the relationship between nutrition and dental caries in easily accessible YouTube videos. This study aimed to analyze the content of Indian languages YouTube videos on nutrition and dental caries.

Methods:  Researchers conducted 6 searches on YouTube using keywords related to nutrition and dental caries. From each search, they selected the first 20 videos. These videos were then scored based on their content, with a maximum of 17 points for covering various foods and eating behaviors impacting dental caries risk. Additionally, information on video characteristics such as view count, length, likes, dislikes, and age were collected for each video. The videos were divided into two groups based on their view rate (views per day), and differences in scores and types of nutrition messages between these groups were analyzed using nonparametric statistics.

Results: In total, 83 videos were included. Most videos were posted by or featured oral health professionals (68/83, 82%). The mean score was 4.2 (SD 2.3) out of 17 points. Videos with >30 views/day (high view rate; 32/83, 48% videos) had a trend toward a higher score (mean 4.4, SD 2.07) than videos with ≤30 views/day (low view rate; 51/83, 52%; mean 4.1, SD 2.4; P=.031) & the result was statistically significant. Sugar was the most consistently mentioned topic in the videos (52/83, 53%) and dental caries mechanism (57/83, 69 %) were mentioned in more than 50% of videos. High –view rate videos were more likely to mention messaging on candy (p=0.03), and sticky foods (p=0.4) than high–view rate videos and it was statistically significant.

Conclusions:

The study revealed that YouTube videos related to nutrition and dental caries lacked comprehensive information, highlighting a need for improvement in content quality and education on these topics for the public. The findings provide valuable insights into the messaging currently accessible to viewers regarding nutrition and dental caries.