Is Information for Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion Available on YouTube Reliable?

The purpose of the present study was to assess the quality and accuracy of the information provided by YouTube videos related to surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion (SARPE). In the present cross-sectional research, a systematic exploration of YouTube videos on SARPE was performed using the search phrase surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion (SARPE) in Google Trends. The first 200 videos were viewed, and 132 videos were included in the present study. The demographic data of the videos, including type, source, duration, date of upload, interaction index, and viewing rates, were recorded. Low-, moderate-, and high-content video groups were classified using a 22-point score scale for classification of the video content. Evaluation of the quality of videos was assessed using the video information and quality index (VIQI). We graded 34 videos as having moderate and 98 as having low content. We found no high-content videos. Individual (vs corporate or professional) providers had uploaded most of the videos (94.7%). The topics most mentioned were facial changes/gap/smile (65.9%), swallowing/eating performance/diet (56.1%), swelling (49.2%), and pain (44.7%). Prognosis and survival (0.8%) and cost (3%) were the least mentioned. The moderate content scores for procedure, instructions, indications, advantages, complications, cost, pain, swelling, bruising, bleeding, tongue soreness, speech, swallowing/eating performance/diet, psychological and psychosocial impact, facial changes, pressure, breathing, and numbness were greater than the low content scores. The VIQI total scores were significantly greater in the moderate content category than in the low (P