Orthodontic Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Orthodontic, including details on braces, retainers, treatment.

Duration of surgical-orthodontic treatment.

Hall B, Jamsa T, Soukka T, Peltomaki T

Department of Oral Development and Orthodontics, Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.

Objective. To study the duration of surgical-orthodontic treatment with special reference to patients' age and the type of tooth movements, i.e. extraction vs. non-extraction and intrusion before or extrusion after surgery to level the curve of Spee. Material and methods. The material consisted files of 37 consecutive surgical-orthodontic patients. The files were reviewed and gender, diagnosis, type of malocclusion, age at the initiation of treatment, duration of treatment, type of tooth movements (extraction vs. non-extraction and levelling of the curve of Spee before or after operation) and type of operation were retrieved. For statistical analyses two sample t-test, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman rank correlation tests were used. Results. Mean treatment duration of the sample was 26.8 months, of which pre-surgical orthodontics took on average 17.5 months. Patients with extractions as part of the treatment had statistically and clinically significantly longer treatment duration, on average 8 months, than those without extractions. No other studied variable seemed to have an impact on the treatment time. Conclusion. The present small sample size prevents reliable conclusions to be made. However, the findings suggest, and patients should be informed, that extractions included in the treatment plan increase chances of longer duration of surgical-orthodontic treatment.

Published 22 July 2008 in Acta Odontol Scand.
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