Influence of Search Engines and Social Media on Dental Patients’ Health Information Seeking: A Cross-sectional Study

such as dietary interventions, smoking cessation, and oral cancer screenings have a greater reach to people through the Internet. 1nformation sought from search engines and SM has a high impact on the changing oral behaviors of dental patients.Most dentists still don't utilize the full potential of SM in their clinical practice for patient education and to uplift their dental marketing. 8 IntroductIonIn today's world of Web 2.0, information gathering and communication through connectivity have taken over the traditional media of newspapers and television programming.Applications that facilitate the sharing of information through interaction and interoperability come under Web 2.0 technologies.Social networking sites, e-communities, blogs, and hosted image and video sites come under this technology.The phrase Web 2.0 is often interchangeably used with the term social media (SM). 1 Search engines and SM are an inevitable part of today's world for information seeking, including healthcare.The mode of information gathering has shifted from print media to the internet. 1,2SM is a powerful tool and interaction mechanism for individuals.However, the information exchanged should be monitored for quality, reliability, and maintaining privacy. 3ccessibility and ease of getting information are the main reasons for using search engines and SM as a source of health information. 4nformation sought via search engines and shared through SM is different in its characteristics.The majority of the population has a private account on SM, and it's used for seeking information whenever they face a dental problem. 5Internet sources are an important means for attracting patients to dental care and are also used to promote dental tourism.