The Perception of Adults and Adolescents of Undergoing and Paying for Tooth Movement Acceleration Procedures in Turkey.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the opinions of adolescents and adults regarding nonconventional methods and their associated payment options in Turkey.

Methods: A total of 183 subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate their perception of various nonconventional acceleration methods: corticotomy, piezocision, micro-osteoperforation, vibration, drug injection, and customized appliances. The questionnaire also investigated how willing the patients would be to pay more and how much more they would accept to reduce the treatment time.

Results: About 38.7% of the adolescents and 44.4% of the adults were willing to undergo an additional procedure, and 59.6% of both groups chose customized appliances as their first preference as a way of accelerating the treatment process. About 45.4% of the total participants were neutral about paying more to reduce treatment time. Those patients who were willing to pay more accepted a maximum increase of only 10% even if that meant a 50% decrease in treatment time.

Conclusion: Adults were slightly less tolerant of the duration of orthodontic treatment than adolescents and were more likely to undergo additional procedures and pay more for a shorter treatment time. In addition, the invasiveness of each procedure was the primary factor given when choosing an acceleration method, rather than its reduction rate.