Readability of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry patient education materials.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's (AAPD) patient education brochures and compare their readability level with that recommended by health education experts.

Methods: Readability for the 25 AAPD brochures was assessed using the: (1) Flesch-Kincaid formula; (2) Gunning Fog formula; and (3) Flesch reading ease formula. The results were compared to the reading level recommended by the experts.

Results: Mean readability for all 25 brochures was: (a) 9.1 (+/-1.8 SD) using the Flesch-Kincaid formula; (b) 9.2 (+/-1.5 SD) with the Gunning Fog formula; and (c) 53.0 (+/-12.2 SD) with the Flesch reading ease formula. Using the Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog formulas, 88% and 92% of the AAPD patient education materials were written above the recommended sixth-grade reading level, respectively.

Conclusions: Overall, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry patient education materials were difficult to read and written above the recommended level for the general public using accepted measures. Readability formulas may be used as a guide to help improve the reading ease of health education materials.