ChatGPT for parents' education about early childhood caries: A friend or foe?

BACKGROUND: With the increasing popularity of online sources for health information, parents may seek information related to early childhood caries (ECC) from artificial intelligence-based chatbots. AIM: The aim of this article was to evaluate the usefulness, quality, reliability, and readability of ChatGPT answers to parents' questions about ECC. DESIGN: Eighty questions commonly asked about ECC were compiled from experts and keyword research tools. ChatGPT 3.5 was asked these questions independently. The answers were evaluated by experts in paediatric dentistry. RESULTS: ChatGPT provided "very useful" and "useful" responses to 82.5% of the questions. The mean global quality score was 4.3 ± 1 (good quality). The mean reliability score was 18.5 ± 8.9 (average to very good). The mean understandability score was 59.5% ± 13.8 (not highly understandable), and the mean actionability score was 40.5% ± 12.8 (low actionability). The mean Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score was 32% ± 25.7, and the mean Simple Measure of Gobbledygook index readability score was 15.3 ± 9.1(indicating poor readability for the lay person). Misleading and false information were detected in some answers. CONCLUSION: ChatGPT has significant potential as a tool for answering parent's questions about ECC. Concerns, however, do exist about the readability and actionability of the answers. The presence of false information should not be overlooked.