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Running head: TIMING OF ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT
Timing of Orthodontic Treatment
Manal Shehada
Madonna University
ESL 5230 – Research Proposal (D2)
February 18, 2015
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TIMING OF ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT
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Timing of Orthodontic Treatment
Research questions:
Informative paper: What are the factors which determine the time to begin orthodontic
treatment?
Argumentative paper: Would it be better to initiate orthodontic treatment early?
Orthodontic treatment becomes very popular nowadays. It is very common now to see
and accept children and adults wearing orthodontic appliances. When I was in school years ago,
all the students used to make fun of students wearing orthodontic appliances, and that made me
refuse to wear an orthodontic appliance. After I entered college, I had to wear orthodontic
appliances to fix my teeth position. It was hard and took longer time than expected to end my
treatment although my case was very simple. That is what makes me wonder if it would have
been better to start my orthodontic treatment earlier. There are different opinions among the
orthodontists to determine the perfect time to start the orthodontic treatment. I hope my research
will help general dentists and parents to consider early orthodontic treatment a better choice as
an interceptive procedure which can prevent the malocclusion from becoming worse.
During my training to be orthodontist in my home town, I treated a very special young
woman, she was 25 years old. She had very big orthodontic problems, and she was very
embarrassed to smile because of that. Her orthodontic treatment plan consisted of orthodontical
and surgical interference. After she finished her treatment, she became another person; she was
very happy and very confident. She also left her fiancé; she believed that she deserved better
than him after the treatment. It was like one of the make-over programs. If that girl had had early
orthodontic treatment, her life would have been different and probably she would not have
needed to take that surgery. It is essential that general dentists and pediadontist direct the parents
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to see orthodontist when they see that the child needs an early orthodontic treatment. Also, it is
necessary to educate parents about when early orthodontic treatment can begin and what are the
benefits of it.
For my informative paper I have chosen the research question: What are the factors
which determine the time to begin orthodontic treatment? I will start my informative paper by
defining early and late orthodontic treatment. There are differences in defining the early
orthodontic treatment, but I agree with the ideas which define it as the stage of mixed dentition
or the pre-adolescent years (Hsieh, Pinskaya, & Roberts, 2005). Then I will explain the factors
which determine the timing of the orthodontic treatment. Usually dentists or orthodontists decide
the time to start orthodontic treatment and persuade the parents or the patient to go with it.
Orthodontists differ in their thoughts about the time to start orthodontic treatment according to
the year of their graduation, experience, institution of graduation, or work sector (Pietilä, Pietilä,
Pirttiniemi, Varrela, & Alanen, 2008). The type of the cases and the aim of the orthodontic
treatment also play a big role in determining the time to start orthodontic treatment (Pietila et al.,
2008). I will also explain these malocclusion cases with figures. In addition, some orthodontic
appliances can be used only in specific time, such as the appliances which work on growth
modification of the jaws are used before puberty. In general, there are many factors affect the
decision of starting orthodontic treatment, which means the choice of preferring early or late
orthodontic treatment can differ between societies and countries.
For my argumentative paper I have chosen the research question: Would it be better to
initiate orthodontic treatment early? I choose this question because there is a big controversy on
what is better early or late orthodontic treatment. I will show the advantages and the
disadvantages of early and late orthodontic treatment and why some orthodontists prefer the
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early orthodontic treatment while others prefer late orthodontic treatment. I will try to show that
early treatment has lots of benefits which make it a better choice for orthodontic treatment. Some
people think that early orthodontic treatment takes a longer time which may lead to premature
termination of treatment (Hsieh et al., 2005). The long time for early treatment could make
others think it cost lots of money but the cost- effectiveness was found not connected with time
of treatment (Pietila, Pietila, Svedström-Oristo, Varrela, & Alanen, 2013). There are opinions
support early treatment in different cases such as posterior crossbite and crowding, and there are
thoughts that early treatment can help moving patient treatment from necessary to elective
category (Shalish, Gal, Brin, Zini, & Ben-Bassat, 2013)
Directing patients to receive their medication in the right time is an important issue, and
beginning orthodontic treatment in the right time insures the success of this treatment. I am glad
to write about this topic because it has some relationship with my previous life and my
expectations to my future. I really hope that my research will help people to see the important of
orthodontic treatment and the necessity to begin it early in many cases. I hope also that the
government and the insurance companies to review their point of view toward the necessity of
orthodontic treatment, so they can help and give incentives to parents to help them to treat their
children in early stages. In addition, I hope my research can help general dentists to notice the
cases which need early interaction and direct the patient to receive the orthodontic treatment in
the appropriate time.
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References
Hsieh, T., Pinskaya, Y., & Roberts, W. E. (2005). Assessment of orthodontic treatment outcomes:
Early treatment versus late treatment. Angle Orthodontist, 75(2), 162-170. doi:
10.1043/0003-3219(2005)075<0158:AOOTOE>2.0.CO;2
Pietilä, I., Pietilä, T., Pirttiniemi, P., Varrela, J., & Alanen, P. (2008) .Orthodontists ’ views on
indications for and timing of orthodontic treatment in Finnish public oral health care.
European Journal of Orthodontics, 30, 46–51. doi:10.1093/ejo/cjm085
Pietila, I., Pietila, T., Svedström-Oristo, A.-L., Varrela, J., & Alanen, P. (2013). Comparison of
treatment costs and outcome in public orthodontic services in Finland. European Journal
of Orthodontics, 35, 22–28. doi:10.1093/ejo/cjr053
Shalish, M., Gal, A., Brin, I., Zini, A., & Ben-Bassat, Y. (2013). Prevalence of dental features
that indicate a need for early orthodontic treatment. European Journal of Orthodontics,
35, 454-459. doi:10.1093/ejo/cjs011