Satisfaction with Orthodontic treatment and hospital appointments
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Is satisfaction with Orthodontic treatment for school-aged patients negatively affected by the time taken to attend hospital-based appointments for treatment? A patient and parent perspective
IRAS ID
242820
Contact name
Susan Cunningham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2018/04/164 clinical research, UCL Data Protection Registration
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Patients who require hospital-based orthodontic treatment have to attend many appointments over a period of two years on average. Most of these patients are under 18 and have to attend appointments approximately every 6 weeks during treatment. Only limited numbers of appointments are available outside school hours, and patients will often miss school as a result of attending their orthodontic appointments. Schools are now required to monitor attendance carefully and many parents are therefore reluctant to take their children out of school for routine appointments. Some studies have shown that children with both poor general and oral health have poorer school performance than their peers. To date there is no research investigating whether patients and their parents feel that attending orthodontic appointments affected their school performance or if missing school affected their satisfaction with treatment. A mixed-methods study of orthodontic patients (12-18 years of age), and their parents, is planned to explore the issues surrounding attending orthodontic appointments. This study will commence with a qualitative study utilising one-to-one interviews with parents and patients and the information obtained will inform the development of a questionnaire to be distributed to a larger cohort of patients.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1173
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion