ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the quality of orthodontic clinical trials published in 4 major dental journals in the past 10 years and establish the reference standard for orthodontic clinical trials and quality control of dental journals.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All the clinical trials published in Chinese Journal of Stomatology, West China Journal of Stomatology, Journal of Practice Stomatology and Chinese Journal of Orthodontics from 1999 to 2008 were searched. The demographic information of the papers was extracted and the quality of the clinical trials according to the consolidated standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) was assessed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Four hundred and ninety-four clinical trials were retrieved, and 21.3% (105/494) of them were supported by grants. For the study design, only 26.1% (129/494) were prospective studies, and 3.8% (19/494) were randomized clinical trials. It was hard to evaluate precisely due to the lack of information about the details of the study designs. For the randomized clinical trials, the lack of details for randomization, allocation concealment, blinding and intention to treat compromised the quality.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The general quality of clinical trials in orthodontics is poor. It needs to be improved both in the clinical study design and the paper writing.</p>
Subject(s)
Humans , Clinical Trials as Topic , Reference Standards , Evidence-Based Dentistry , Orthodontics , Reference Standards , Periodicals as Topic , Quality Control , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic , Research DesignABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the surgical patients treated with straight wire appliance for guidelines of clinical using of the appliance.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 51 patients from Joint Clinic of Orthodontic Surgery, Peking University School of Stomatology with dentofacial deformities treated with straight wire appliance were analyzed. The patients were aged from 15 years to 34 years 5 months, average 18 years 9 months. Among whom, 16 are males, while the other 35 are females.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Eighteen patients were treated with extraction of teeth, while other 33 cases were nonextraction case. The duration of average presurgical orthodontic treatment was 13.3 months, and 10.4 months was for postsurgical orthodontic treatment, totally active treatment time was 25.5 months.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Straight wire appliance would benefit a lot for three dimensional control of teeth when doing pre- and post-surgical orthodontic treatment. Good results could be achieved without wire bending.</p>