Dental education has experienced meaningful changes in recent years. Technology has gained track in education due to its multiple advantages, ease of access, popularity among new generations, and the emergence of opportunities to implement new pedagogical and didactic approaches. Consequently, educators have been prompted to transform their methods to provide instruction (1). In this context, online social networks and educational platforms allow the creation and exchange of virtual contents. Based on demand and supply, various platforms and applications have evolved, and their complexity has decreased over the years (2). On the other hand, engaged and diligent students seek diverse learning sources to ensure the development of competencies for future effective work (3). The new educational platforms have become indispensable tools to improve the learning conditions that traditional education provides to students and increase access to content and the acquisition of knowledge (4). Recently, studies have shown that social networks promote learning since students use them as sources for information, develop positive behaviors, and learn knowledge that is fundamental to provide appropriate care to the population (5).

With technologies, dental education benefits from high hands-on learning and teaching of clinical procedures; however, educators could find it challenging to use new tools for learning. Teaching Individual-focused teaching is complicated when there are high numbers of students in a classroom. Thus, the use of tools such videos increases students thoroughness and understanding of content. A study comparing learning with written clinical cases and video clinical cases found out that the latter meaningfully improved cognitive outcomes by facilitating good discussions and identifying public health problems. In the affective aspect, it was useful at empathizing with patients and learning about inequality in social sectors. In general, learning increased (6). In another study, students emphasized the value of learning through videos to improve communication skills and professional behaviors (7). A systematic review showed that learning from videos was comfortable, novel, easily accessible, and highly functional since it allowed mental preparation of clinical skills before providing care to patients (8). Evidence supports the importance of videos as educational tools.

Educational media showing free access is commonly used by dental students. Since the appearance of the first YouTube® video in 2005 (9), this platform has grown in popularity among dental students (10,11). Likewise, it is widely used to visualize dental clinical procedures (12). Since YouTube® is an open platform, any user can access and/or create content with a potential viewership of millions of people worldwide, which is why dental professors are somehow concerned about whether the content that students watch on this platform and on social networks shows reliable scientific evidence (5,13,14). On the one hand, it is argued that social networks can benefit student learning by permitting its use as an education tool in dentistry. On the other hand, the potential problems and risks in the use of social networks and educational platforms could outweigh learning benefits, hence it should not be used as an educational tool (5). Studies have shown YouTube® as a teaching tool; nevertheless, there are no literature reviews that analyze the evidence and show a panorama of the use of this platform by dental students. Therefore, this study asked the following research questions: How has the YouTube® platform been used by dental students? How often is YouTube® used when compared to other social networks? What type of scientific evidence does YouTube® provide to students?

Therefore, the research team conducted a scoping review with a twofold aim: evaluating how students use the YouTube® platform to learn, and analyzing the use, frequency, and type of evidence. The key elements of the research questions to conceptualize the focus of the review were dental students (general population or universe); use of YouTube® (concept), and dental education (context). Peer-reviewed publications were used as a source of evidence.

The intra-examiner Cohen’s Kappa coefficient was 0.94 (CI 0.58 - 1.00) and the inter-examiner was 0.80 (CI 0.72 - 0.91). A PRISMA-ScR flowchart of study identification and selection is shown in Figure 1. From the six databases, 239 studies were identified for selection. When downloading the data to the Endnote® program, nine were excluded due to duplication, 200 studies were excluded after analyzing the research title, and 18 were excluded after reviewing the abstract. At the end, 12 studies were chosen as the sample for the review. Table 2 shows a summary of the included studies.

FIGURE 1 FIGURE 1 PRISMA-ScR Flow Chart with Details of the Data Search and Selection Process (16).

TABLE 2 TABLE 2 Summary of Studies Included in the Review Source: the authors

TABLE 2 TABLE 2 Summary of Studies Included in the Review Source: the authors

Most of the studies had a cross-sectional study design (11 studies), and one was a prospective cohort study. Seven studies evaluated only the YouTube® platform in dental education, three studies analyzed social media in general and dental education, and two studies evaluated YouTube® with other sites. Two studies were multi-institutional.

We found some literature available to researchers on the use of the YouTube® platform in dentistry. Although there is a diversity in the tools, aims/purposes, and types of studies, the sampled analyzed allowed us to recognize how that platform has been used in dental education. Twelve studies were reviewed to answer the study’s three research questions. The findings show that students use the YouTube® platform for entertainment, educational purposes, and to access non-academic tutorials. With respect to other social networks, the YouTube® platform is positioned among the most frequently accessed by dental students. Finally, there is some mistrust about the content of the videos on the platform.

The implementation of digital technology, educational platforms, and applications has prompted teaching and learning activities between educators and students to be conducted with the use of digital technology. With the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, education worldwide changed drastically (26). In addition, in recent years, e-learning has emerged as a tool to improve dental education. For education to be successful, it is important to learn about student preferences and applications they use to incorporate technologies into the learning experiences to improve their attendance and perception (24). Social networks have become versatile tools that have an impact on communication, personal relationships, and didactics. For dental educational institutions, an active presence in social networks is considered essential to improve traditional teaching methods (27). Professors should instruct students about the benefits of social media and help them recognize the associated dangers when using them, as well as to avoid inappropriate use (28).

Dental education involves learning instructors’ skills, both didactic and clinical, to students (26). Students observe the procedures that professors perform step by step, then perform them on laboratory models, and then carry them out on patients. As a complement to what is covered in class, students seek contents that allow them to visualize and/or broaden their knowledge. Likewise, educators are obliged to look for teaching alternatives to increase learning (14). An example of this is the use of videos in dental education, which has shown benefits in the basic sciences and clinical practices (6,23). Dental students prefer the use of videos over other online tools and traditional formats (28). The findings of this study show that YouTube® is considered an effective teaching-and-learning tool in which students and instructors benefited by facilitating the interactive exchange of content. Studies in other areas use YouTube® for entertainment, information search, and academic learning as the main reasons for use (29). The present study confirmed this trend and reveals students improve their confidence and understand of clinical procedures (21).

The findings of this study support that YouTube® has educational videos, even though there is uncertainty about the quality of the information available. Self-learning could be affected by accessing videos of poor quality, which are misleading, and/or deliver inconsistent content. According to Dias, et al., (19) only 5 % of the content on YouTube® is created within universities. A systematic review evaluated the reliability of content related to oral medicine on YouTube® and concluded that the platform represents a dynamic device that disseminates medical-scientific content; however, most of the information collected in the literature shows a lack of appropriate knowledge. According to the European Commission, online disinformation can be contended by focusing on five pillars: increasing transparency, promoting media and information literacy, empowering users, safeguarding the media ecosystem, and investigating the impacts of disinformation (30). It is important that students are able to discern the reliability of information, and educators instruct and promote evidence-based dentistry.

A useful tool for evaluating online content are the criteria created by the University of California Berkeley Library (31), which are: authority, purpose, publication and format, relevance, updating, and documentation. The content should allow users to verify authors, affiliations, and publications. Scrutiny of the purpose provides a glimpse of why certain content is produced. A publication will be more reliable if it is peer-reviewed and produced by a recognized think tank. The importance of the content in areas of study and interest should be analyzed. The date of publication of a content used to support a video is necessary to know how current and relevant it is. All videos should cite their sources of data, so anybody could verify the quality of references. If students take these criteria into account, they will find more scientific evidence in YouTube® videos.

With the frequent usage and importance of the YouTube® platform in dental education, the evaluation of scientific evidence of the contents is essential. Future contributions to the platform, by individuals or educational institutions, should focus on developing content in a systematic way so that users receive quality information that is supported by evidence-based dentistry. This study shows an overview of the YouTube® platform as an educational tool in dentistry. Future studies could be carried out to perform quantitative analyses or to review the type and level of scientific evidence of scientific publications on this topic. The study aims to motivate dental educators to promote the use of the platform as an educational tool and the creation of new content based on scientific evidence.

The use of the YouTube® platform is valuable for educational purposes by facilitating the learning, for instance, of clinical procedures. Nevertheless, the type and level of scientific evidence provided in videos must be reviewed.

There is still distrust of the evidence that videos contain, so it is recommended to review the quality of materials and educational institutions to increase the creation of videos based on strong scientific evidence.