title: Health information quality of websites on periodontology.
abstract: This study aimed to assess the quality of the information available on the Web on gum disease.
  
  
  
  The term "gum disease" was searched in Google and in MedlinePlus. The first 200 websites were analysed by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria and the Health On the Net Foundation (HONCode) certification, instruments for assessing quality of health information. Data were analysed the Mann-Whitney test or Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by the Dunn's test, using the GraphPad Prism Software version 6.
  
  
  
  MedlinePlus presented a significantly higher JAMA score than Google. Google's first 10 results had a higher JAMA score than the remaining websites. Journalism and health portals the most reliable affiliations, while commercial and dental practices had low JAMA scores. JAMA score was significantly higher in websites with the HONCode certification compared to the ones without it.
  
  
  
  Currently, there are concerns regarding patients' use of the Internet for accessing health information. However, the conclusion we can make is that Google seems to favour websites with high quality information, at least in terms of JAMA score or HONCode accreditation. The JAMA score of dental practices' websites could be improved by providing basic information such as authorship and date.
authors.affiliation: Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.|Universitade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bizzi
authors.affiliation: Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghezzi
authors.affiliation: Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.
authors.forename: Priyamvada
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paudyal
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards*; D000068598:Data Accuracy; D020407:Internet; D010517:Periodontics
keywords: Internet; Web; gum disease; information quality; periodontal disease