The quality of orthodontic care by graduate orthodontic residents at Boston University School of Dental Medicine

PLEASE NOTE: This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community: please click Download and log in with a valid BU account to access. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.Thesis (MSD)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2006 (Orthodontics).Includes bibliographical references: leaves 58-59.The purpose of this study was to describe the quality of orthodontic care provided by graduate orthodontic residents at the Boston University School of Dental Medicine. The quality of care in this retrospective cohort study was evaluated based on: treatment duration, the percent reduction in PAR (change in score between post-PAR and pre-PAR) and the ABO OGS point deductions. This study also tried to determine the factors that may contribute to the quality of care in an institutional setting and the relationship of these factors to the different aspects of the PAR index and the ABO-OGS score. A total of 213 eligible cases that were treated at the BU graduate orthodontic clinic compromised the study sample. Based on the PAR standards, the results demonstrated that 81% of the cases were treated to a ‘high standard’, 33.3% were ‘greatly improved’, and 97% were improved while the according to the ABO OGS guidelines 62% of the cases reviewed passed. Generally, patients that were younger in age at time of treatment initiation demonstrated longer treatment times and higher percent weighted PAR reductions. Cases in which permanent teeth were extracted also demonstrated a similar pattern in addition to having higher total ABO OGS point deductions. Those cases that had a higher weighted PAR score to begin with (pretreatment weighted PAR) showed a higher percent weighted PAR reduction as well as longer treatment duration times. In conclusion it can be stated that orthodontic treatment rendered by graduate students at BU School of Dental Medicine graduate orthodontic program is of a very high standard and therefore the clinical training is of a high standard