Buschang Peter H, Shaw Steven G, Ross Mike, Crosby Doug, Campbell Phillip M
a Regent's Professor and Director of Orthodontic Research, Department of Orthodontics, Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Dallas, Tex.
Angle Orthod. 2014 May;84(3):391-6. doi: 10.2319/062113-466. Epub 2013 Nov 18.
To compare the time efficiency of aligner therapy (ALT) and conventional edgewise braces (CEB) based on large samples of patients treated by the same highly experienced orthodontist, with the same treatment goals for both groups of patients.
The retrospective portion of the study evaluated 150 CEB patients who were matched, based on mandibular crowding and number of rotated teeth, to 150 ALT patients. All records were obtained at one orthodontist's office. All of the patients had mild-to-moderate Class I malocclusions (≤5 mm incisor crowding) and were treated nonextraction. Age, gender, total treatment time, total number of appointments, types of appointments, materials used, mandibular crowding, and number of rotated teeth were recorded from the patients' records. The prospective portion of the study timed the various types of appointments for both treatments with a stopwatch.
Compared to ALT, CEB required significantly (P<.01) more visits (approximately 4.0), a longer treatment duration (5.5 months), more emergency visits (1.0), greater emergency chair time (7.0 minutes), and greater total chair time (93.4 minutes). However, ALT showed significantly (P<.01) greater total material costs and required significantly more total doctor time than CEB (P<.01).
Whether the greater time efficiency of ALT offsets the greater material costs and doctor time required depends on the experience of the orthodontist and the number of ALT case starts.
在由同一位经验丰富的正畸医生治疗的大量患者样本基础上，比较两组具有相同治疗目标的患者，使用隐形矫治器治疗（ALT）和传统方丝弓矫治器（CEB）的时间效率。
研究的回顾性部分评估了150例CEB患者，根据下颌拥挤程度和旋转牙数量，将其与150例ALT患者进行匹配。所有记录均来自一位正畸医生的诊所。所有患者均为轻度至中度I类错牙合（切牙拥挤≤5mm），且均采用非拔牙治疗。从患者记录中记录年龄、性别、总治疗时间、预约总次数、预约类型、使用材料、下颌拥挤程度和旋转牙数量。研究的前瞻性部分使用秒表记录两种治疗的各类预约时间。
与ALT相比，CEB需要显著更多的就诊次数（约4.0次，P<0.01）、更长的治疗持续时间（5.5个月）、更多的急诊就诊次数（1.0次）、更多的急诊椅旁时间（7.0分钟）和更多的总椅旁时间（93.4分钟）。然而，ALT的总材料成本显著更高（P<0.01），且所需的总医生时间比CEB显著更多（P<0.01）。
ALT更高的时间效率是否能抵消其更高的材料成本和所需的医生时间，取决于正畸医生的经验和ALT病例启动的数量。
