title: Quality evaluation of the available Internet information regarding pain during orthodontic treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the quality of the data disseminated via the Internet regarding pain experienced by orthodontic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic online search was performed for 'orthodontic pain' and 'braces pain' separately using five search engines. The first 25 results from each search term-engine combination were pooled for analysis. After excluding advertising sites, discussion groups, video feeds, and links to scientific articles, 25 Web pages were evaluated in terms of accuracy, readability, accessibility, usability, and reliability using recommended research methodology; reference textbook material, the Flesch Reading Ease Score; and the LIDA instrument. Author and information details were also recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, the results indicated a variable quality of the available informational material. Although the readability of the Web sites was generally acceptable, the individual LIDA categories were rated of medium or low quality, with average scores ranging from 16.9% to 86.2%. The orthodontic relevance of the Web sites was not accompanied by the highest assessment results, and vice versa.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality of the orthodontic pain information cited by Web sources appears to be highly variable. Further structural development of health information technology along with public referral to reliable sources by specialists are recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, 251 Hellenic Air Force VA General Hospital, Athens, Greece. chrislivas@yahoo.gr
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Livas
authors.forename: Konstantina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Delli
authors.forename: Yijin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D032882:Comprehension; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D057386:Search Engine