The Usefulness of YouTube Videos As a Source of Information on Dental Carving for Dental Students

Background: Dental students often use online video platforms in order to complete their missing information. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of YouTube videos in terms of dental carving.

Methods: YouTube was searched for information using the search term “carving upper 1st molar tooth from soap” in Turkish. Two dental students reviewed the first 150 videos for the search term. After exclusions, 9 videos were included for analysis. Demographics of videos, including the type of source, length, viewers’ interaction, and viewing rate, were evaluated. A 9-point usefulness score was created to evaluate the videos with the support of 2 experienced prosthesis lecturers.

Results: The mean usefulness score of videos was 6.6 ± 2.2 (range 3-9). There was no significant correlation between the usefulness score and other video demographics (P > .05). Although there was no statistically significant difference between the upload source and usefulness score, the only video that was found slightly useful was uploaded by a dental technician, and 2 videos with full points were uploaded by students.

Conclusion: Most YouTube videos on dental carving of the maxillary first molar were found to be very useful. Since the videos on social media can include misleading/incomplete information, online videos should only be used as an auxiliary material to face-to-face training.

Cite this article as: Şirinoglu Çapan B, Köprülü E, Özel İ, Kahveci FS, Taşülkü AR. The usefulness of YouTube videos as a source of information on dental carving for dental students. Essent Dent. 2023;2(3):80-86.