More and more interest in online oral health advice
An increasing number of people are going online to find out further information and advice regarding their dental health.
Oral health charity the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) have reported that over the last year alone, the number of visitors to the website has increased by a ‘staggering’ 155 per cent, meaning 2.5 million people are now using the site. Re-launched online just 12 months ago, the charity credits the coverage of oral health in national media as playing a ‘significant part in people wanting to know more about the health of their mouth’.
Dr Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, states that over the years, the BDHF has invested heavily in ‘developing high quality online platforms’ and producing materials ‘based on core values of original content’, from sources that the public can rely on.
This constant availability of trusted oral health advice is seemingly becoming more and more important, as recent reports suggest a growing reluctance to visit the dentist as costs increase. At least if the information is online, most people are able to learn more about dental health than they usually would.
Much of the information is contained in the BDHF’s ‘Tell Me About’ series, a range of frequently-updated content on various dental health issues, including routine procedures and treatments, and a variety of oral conditions and diseases. Laid out in a simple question and answer format, the series has been approved by the Word Centre for Plain English.
Carter notes that the BDHF is now seeing, for the first time, online access overtake print versions of the information as the preferred method of learning more about dental health issues. In the past, it has mostly taken the form of a leaflet series, with over a million copies sold to dental practices and hospitals across the UK each year, which are then handed out to patients. Now, more people are turning to the internet.
Towards the end of 2014, the BDHF began to translate their website and the information available into nine languages, meeting new demand for the material to be available to non-English speaking members of the public. The archive will now be available in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Carter adds that a multi-lingual website is a ‘tremendous step forward’ for the charity, and hopes that it will help break down barriers that can cause communication problems when educating people about their health.
