title: Evaluation of internet search trends of some common oral problems, 2004 to 2014.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Internet search trend volumes can provide free, fast and pertinent information about peoples' online interests. No study has yet been conducted on internet search trends in dentistry. This study aims to investigate ten years' data on internet search volumes regarding some oral problems: "toothache", "tooth decay", "gum disease", "wisdom teeth" and "oral cancer". The study also aims to investigate the most common geographic search locations and to examine related searches.
  
  
  METHODS
  Worldwide intermet search trend data over a period of 532 weeks (4 January 2004 and 15 March 2014) retrieved from the Google Trends web site was interrogated for each search term to identify search trends, regional interests, and related searches.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The search volumes for the terms "toothache "and "wisdom teeth" increased over the decade while "tooth decay", "gum disease", and "oral cancer" showed slight changes. Each term was most commonly searched in different counties: "toothache", Philippines; "tooth decay", Singapore; "Gum Disease", Ireland; "Wisdom Teeth", United States; and "Oral cancer", India. Related searches were mainly focused on symptoms and remedies of these problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regional and time-related variations in search volumes may provide dental professionals with readily- and freely-available pertinent information on populations' internet searches regarding dental complaints.
authors.forename: O T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Harorli
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harorli
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000639:trends*; D003731:Dental Caries; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000639:trends*; D008964:Molar, Third; D009059:Mouth Diseases; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms; D010510:Periodontal Diseases; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014076:Tooth Diseases; D014098:Toothache; D064878:Web Browser