Oral Health and Dental Management

Adherence among orthodontic patients: A systematic review

2^nd International Conference and Exhibition on Dental & Oral Health

April 21-23, 2014 Crown Plaza Dubai, UAE

Aljazi Alijabaa

Accepted Abstracts: Oral Health Dent Manag

Abstract:

Patient adherence is essential for successful orthodontic treatment outcomes. Instructions given to the patients undergoing orthodontic treatment regarding oral hygiene, diet, maintaining the appliances, and appointment keeping should be fully understood and followed by the patients. For orthodontists, a patient?s adherence is a challenging and complex problem that substantially influences the outcome of treatment and the duration over which active treatment is carried out. Objective: Conduct a systematic review of previous studies that investigate variables that correlates with adherence and effectiveness of interventions to enhance adherence among orthodontic patients. Materials and Methods: A systematic electronic search using Medline via OVID (1966- March 2012), EMBASE and Cochrane central register of control trials until March 2012 and Hand Search was undertaken to identify relevant studies. Results: A total of 381 articles were identified through the electronic searches. Initial screening of the abstracts and titles by all review authors identified 21 articles which related to compliance in orthodontics. The full articles were then retrieved. A single observational study and four randomised controlled trials were included. Conclusion: The literature advocates the use of several methods to improve patients? compliance/adherence among orthodontic patients. A more practical methods to improve patients? adherence needs to be studied, with different types of interventions to be included and tested for effectiveness.