Original Article

Report on cases of misleading advertisements in the Korean oral hygiene products market

Se-Jeong Jeon1,*   

Department of Dental Hygiene, Daejeon Institute of Science and Technology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of exaggerated advertisements in the Korean oral hygiene product market and to urge dental hygienists to play the role of experts. The exaggerated advertisements on the largest online shopping platform in Korea were investigated. Searches were performed with keywords related to oral hygiene, such as “bad breath” and “tartar”, and product names of 1,000 products listed at the top were investigated to select the suspicious ones. The situation was found to be grave; for example, a mouthwash capable of preventing coronavirus disease, which lacks scientific evidence, and a self-tartar remover that did not guarantee safety or performance were being sold. Strict government supervision is required, and dental hygienists must be urged to play an active role as oral health experts.

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