Readability Analysis of Turkish Patient Informing Texts about Teeth Whitening on the Internet: Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: Considering that the texts presented on the internet will be read by people of very different education levels, it is important to examine the readability of these texts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the readability analysis of Turkish patient information texts about teeth whitening on the internet. Method: A Google search using the term “Teeth Whitening” revealed the top 100 websites. Turkish patient information texts on the 86 websites included in this study were evaluated according to the Atesman Readability Index. The information texts originated from dentists, specialist dentists, private health institutions, university hospitals, and newspapers. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and descriptive statistics were used for statistical evaluation. Statistical significance level was accepted as P < .05. Results: Atesman Readability Index score was 59.08 ± 8.14. According to the findings obtained in the research, 0% of the websites examined were rated as very easy, 7% as easy, 86% as moderately difficult, 5.8% as difficult, and 1.2% as very difficult. When the readability levels of the texts were examined according to grade levels, the following was found: 43% were grades 11th–12th , 43% grades 9th–10th, 7% grades 7th–8th, and 5.8% grade associate degree. Conclusion: The readability of Turkish texts on teeth whitening on the internet was found to be of medium difficulty. When creating texts for the internet about teeth whitening, it would be beneficial to make them easier to read by using readability programs before they are published.Keywords: Access to information, dentists, internet, teeth whitening

Keywords

• access to information
• dentists
• internet
• teeth whitening