Quality and interaction levels of Instagram posts related to orthodontic #clearaligners

Introduction
Developing technology and increased utilization of Internet have raised awareness and facilitated access to information about health-related issues. 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.