Has the introduction of Orthodontic Therapists affected outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The use of the PAR index in assessing the effect of the introduction of orthodontic therapists on the outcome of orthodontic treatment
IRAS ID
136956
Contact name
Trevor Hodge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Research summary
Orthodontic Therapists (OT) are professionals complementary to dentistry who are registered with the General Dental Council (GDC). OTs are able to execute certain aspects of orthodontic treatment under the prescription and supervision of a dental practitioner who is also registered with the GDC. OTs were introduced into the UK dental workforce in 2007 with the first qualified therapists graduating and registering in 2008. To date there has been no study undertaken to see if the inclusion oftherapists has had an effect on the quality of orthodontic treatment outcomes. The purpose of this study is to review the quality of treatment outcomes of three orthodontic practitioners at two different time points. The first time point (T1) will be prior to the introduction of OTs when the orthodontists treated their own patients (without the assistance of the OTs). The second time point (T2) will be following the introduction of OTs. At T2 patients would have been treated by both a specialist orthodontic practitioner and with supervised assistance of OTs. The quality of treatment will be assessed objectively using the quantitative Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) tool. PAR is currently used to assess the outcome of treatment by providing a single summary score for all of the occlusal (bite) anomalies that a patient has prior to treatment with and comparing this to a score at the end of treatment. The measurement of the PAR scores will be done on plaster study casts of the patients’ dentition.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/WM/0082
Date of REC Opinion
12 Mar 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion