Introduction:Developing technology and increased utilization of Internet have raised awareness and facilitated access to information about health-related issues.Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the content and quality of Instagram posts about orthodontic clear aligners. Material and methods: A search using the hashtag #clearaligners was performed in the Instagram application. After pre-evaluation of the top 250 posts, those that did not meet the evaluation criteria were excluded, and the remaining 60 posts were analyzed. To determine quality of the posts, a quality score was created to evaluate content accuracy, consistency between the image and text, and image quality. Each post was assessed and given a quality score ranging from 0 to 20. According to this score, posts were classified as of poor, moderate, or excellent quality. Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis H test and Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated for statistical evaluations. Results: The 60 posts analyzed had a mean quality score of 14 ± 3, indicating moderate quality. Posts from dentists/ orthodontists and laypersons presented comparable quality scores. Number of likes and number of comments were positively correlated, but these parameters were not associated with quality score. When number of likes, number of comments, and quality score were compared according to the post's source and purpose, no significant differences were detected between the groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Our study indicates that Instagram posts about clear aligners are of moderate quality. We believe that dentists/ orthodontists in particular should be more aware about sharing information in order to contribute to reliability and quality of medical content of popular social media platforms.
Main Points• Clinically significant anterior tooth size discrepancies were determined in 40.7% of Class III surgical patients.• No significant correlation was found between anterior Bolton ratios and dentoskeletal measurements.• Tooth size discrepancy should be considered in the diagnosis and treatment planning of Class III orthognathic surgery patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.