Craniofacial and Special Care Orthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Craniofacial and Special Care Orthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2021 May;159(5):e411-e422. doi: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2020.10.025. Epub 2021 Feb 27.
Since the introduction of direct to consumer orthodontic (DTCO) products in the last decade, these products have been increasing in popularity among orthodontic patients. The purpose of the current article was to assess the populations' perception of DTCOs and to examine various factors that may influence their decision in choosing treatment with DTCO products.
A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in the United States. The 35-question survey was disseminated through Amazon Mechanical Turk (Amazon.com, Inc, Seattle, Wash), and participants were asked questions about their demographics, their perceptions of DTCOs, orthodontists, and factors that may influence their decision should they decide to pursue orthodontic treatment. Pearson's correlations were conducted to assess the association between various factors and the participants' likelihood to choose DTCO products.
A total of 1441 subjects participated in the study. More than 83% of the participants have considered pursuing orthodontic treatment to some extent. Twenty-three percent reported that they would highly likely choose DTCO products. The majority of participants reported convenience to be the greatest benefit of DTCOs, followed by cost. The majority of responses seemed to favor DTCOs. Forty-seven percent reported that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic did not affect their preference, whereas 26.6% reported to be more likely to pursue DTCOs because of the pandemic.
The majority of participants seemed to perceive DTCOs as a viable alternative for seeking orthodontic care. Although participants had concerns about the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, results showed that the pandemic might not significantly affect the preferences. Orthodontists and their constituent organizations may consider more robust awareness and advocacy campaigns to educate the population about orthodontic treatment and the benefits of pursuing treatment with a trained orthodontist.
自过去十年中直接面向消费者的正畸（DTCO）产品问世以来，这些产品在正畸患者中的受欢迎程度不断提高。本文旨在评估公众对 DTCO 的看法，并研究可能影响他们选择使用 DTCO 产品进行治疗的各种因素。
在美国进行了一项基于人群的横断面调查。该 35 个问题的调查通过亚马逊土耳其机器人（Amazon.com，Inc，西雅图，华盛顿州）进行分发，参与者被问及他们的人口统计学特征、他们对 DTCO 的看法、正畸医生以及如果他们决定接受正畸治疗，可能影响他们决策的因素。进行皮尔逊相关性分析，以评估各种因素与参与者选择 DTCO 产品的可能性之间的关联。
共有 1441 名受试者参与了这项研究。超过 83%的参与者在某种程度上考虑过接受正畸治疗。23%的人表示他们很可能会选择 DTCO 产品。大多数参与者认为 DTCO 的最大优势是方便，其次是成本。大多数回应似乎赞成 DTCO。47%的人表示，2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行没有影响他们的偏好，而 26.6%的人表示由于大流行，他们更有可能选择 DTCO。
大多数参与者似乎认为 DTCO 是寻求正畸护理的可行替代方案。尽管参与者对 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行存在担忧，但结果表明，大流行可能不会显著影响他们的偏好。正畸医生及其组成组织可能会考虑更强大的宣传和宣传活动，以教育公众了解正畸治疗以及接受经过培训的正畸医生治疗的好处。
