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were not clear, and only after opening the next page,
was the meaning explored. Many icon labels, which
seemed to be synonyms, were not used as such. So there
is a need for a standardized labeling method.
Are the implant manufacturers’ webpages educative?
To answer this critical question, levels of education are
separated, in the following discussion.
Patients’ education material
Retention of dental information is enhanced by the net 10
and consumers look for health care information online. 11
using the net by patients was to change dentists,
travel, discuss treatment with their dentists, ask for
more explanations, which may be considered by some
clinicians to be a burden on valuable clinical time. But
this had, in some occasions, led to patients demanding
inappropriate care or more complex treatment, if the
information is not validated. 12
Educating this group is essential, by providing an
abundance of scientifically valid material in reliable
resources, rather than the subjective material, limited
in experience and disseminated in chat rooms and
unspecialized forums.
Implant webpages provide material for patients in many
forms. Introductory into implants, implant treatment
options, what is expected from the treatment and
brochures and leaflets. Customization of the material
is done in a few webpages, where language is selected
by the patient. Services follow, leading patients to
doctors who use their system, testimonials and stories
of who had a chance to get them done, ” BEFORE AND
AFTER” images, and ”PATIENT VIDEOS”. All of these are
minimally educative-informative icons. Better educative
resources are expected in labeled icons: “FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS” “DENTAL GLOSSARY”, “PATIENT
EDUCATION”, “GUM DISEASE”, ”RESTORATIONS”,
“PATIENTS’ SITE”, and these are present as icons in
more comprehensive webpages. These were present in a
limited number of webpages.
Undergraduate dental surgeons, hygienists,
assistants, and technician students
For this group, internet is now promoted to be an
education recourse and assistant to conventional methods.
Students had responded by accepting it, retaining
more information by it, and considering it an essential
adjunctive to conventional methods. 13,14 Providing the
material through a central location for e-resources, and
be connected to wider geographical distributions as by
podcasts, significantly increased their interest. 15
Student preferences were then announced by many
studies about what should the material look like on the
net, to consider it educative. Material is preferred to be
accessed off-campus, 16 standardized in terms of labels
and format, outlined in an e-syllabus, 17 and visually
perceived. Illustration methods are preferred in the forms
of “SLIDE GALLERIES”, “SLIDE SERIES” and streaming
videos. High quality images or videos were preferred if
supported by the DSL connection, contained sound and
text subtitles, short, and embedded in the text. 18 Online
quizzes produced variable response. Such inclusions
produced greater interaction, motivation and knowledge
retention. 19-21
As previous experience with online material is confounding
factor to this group, 22 material provided should have simple
interactions to reach needed information.
The introduction of dental implants into the curriculum
of these undergraduate courses has been reliant on
text books and lecture notes. The role of dental implant
webpages in providing educative material to these
groups is anticipated but not met directly as the student
is faced with no icons relevant to their needs. They could
access some of the patient materials, but would not
be able to comprehend all the professional terms and
specialized techniques for technician and professional
sections. Simple terminologies, more illustrated
techniques and well labeled icons could be areas of
further advancement towards being more educative.
Schools that adopt teaching comprehensive treatment
planning and team approach therapies, in final years,
are faced with bit more difficulty. The reliance on
experienced educators increases, to guide the students
through their pile of accumulating study materials. The
level of depth varies, in these approaches, according
to the dental school plans. The educators may face the
problem of introducing the current systems, using any of
the material provided by the implant webpage as they
are insufficiently directed from the homepage icons,
and may lack comparative clinical studies leading to
conclusions from the experience.
Dental education
Professional development materials are present in
many dental implant manufacturer webpages. Different
levels of specialty are also present but the problem is
faced where many of the intended material is present
in subsequent webpages, which may not be clear and
explored by the homepage icons. If the item is not
present, then facilities as site maps and search boxes
are the next choice. Some users often go straight to the
search feature on a site when it is present even before
searching the icons of the homepage. 23
This richness meets the definitions of a dental portal but also
the definition of power searching; process of finding good
quality information from the web as quickly and as easily
as possible. 24 But scientific validity and level of evidence
produced in these webpages warrant more research.
| 22 | Smile Dental Journal | Volume 6, Issue 4 - 2011