Abstract
BACKGROUND: Integrating the internet into daily life has profoundly influenced the public's behavior of seeking health information. Free access to cyberspace created a fertile environment for the spread of oral health misinformation, which can have a detrimental impact on the public's oral health. The prevalence of oral health misinformation in Jordan has not been investigated; therefore, it is crucial to understand how oral health misinformation originates and what contributes to its dissemination. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine the prevalence of oral health misinformation published on web pages in Jordan and to offer insight into the public's information-seeking behaviors regarding oral health. METHODS: This study is a mixed methods infodemiological analysis of oral health misinformation. A systematic content analysis was executed on web pages published in the Arabic language in Jordan from 2019 to 2023. RESULTS: 704 web pages were retrieved, of which 320 relevant web pages were included in the content analysis. Among these, 193 web pages (60.3%) published oral health misinformation. Publishers without a professional background published 185 web pages (95.9%) of the total misinformation-expressing web pages. According to the dental field, the highest frequency of misinformation occurred in oral medicine-101 web pages (52.3%). The validity of published oral health information was significantly influenced by the publishers' interest (P = 0.006), the articles' main themes (P = 0.005), and the publishers' professional background (P < 0.001). Contextual analysis of oral health misinformation showed significant differences among dental fields (P = 0.019), with the most frequent occurences related to causes (18.8%), home remedies (15.7%), and treatment (15.5%). Geographical variations in interest in oral health searches were observed across Jordanian governorates (P < 0.001), and temporal trends in interest varied significantly across the five-year period(P = 0.019). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest a need for public health interventions to restrict the dissemination of oral health misinformation.