Source credibility matters: assessing the quality of periodontitis educational content on Chinese social media

BACKGROUND: Periodontitis, a prevalent inflammatory disease with systemic health implications, necessitates effective public education. Social media platforms offer broad reach for health communication but face challenges in content quality and reliability. The primary objective of this cross‑sectional study was to compare the quality and reliability of periodontitis‑related short videos on TikTok and Xiaohongshu using the Global Quality Score (GQS), JAMA benchmark criteria, and the Modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) tool. METHODS: Videos on TikTok and Xiaohongshu were evaluated using inclusion/exclusion criteria, with data on engagement metrics and uploader sources collected. Video quality was assessed via GQS, JAMA, and mDISCERN scales, analyzed using non-parametric tests and Spearman correlations. RESULTS: Two hundred periodontitis-related videos were analyzed (100 each from TikTok and Xiaohongshu). TikTok demonstrated significantly higher user engagement (likes, shares, comments; P < 0.01) and superior quality scores compared to Xiaohongshu. Medical sources produced higher-quality content than non-medical uploaders, with marked differences in JAMA and mDISCERN scores. Dentist-uploaded videos scored higher in mDISCERN on TikTok. CONCLUSION: TikTok demonstrates superior user engagement and content quality for periodontitis-related education compared to Xiaohongshu, yet systemic gaps in reliability persist, such as low JAMA and mDISCERN scores. Videos from medical professionals, particularly dentists, were associated with higher quality scores, underscoring the need for platform-level verification systems to prioritize credible sources.