Assessment of the quality of removable orthodontic treatment services

Quality management in orthodontics is a complex issue which aims at providing high quality services to patients. Development of a well established quality control policy according to regional characteristics and socio-economic features of the consumers, is of great importance. However, there is also an inevitable need for careful supervision regarding the implementation of the quality control program. This study is to evaluate and improve standards in removable orthodontic treatment. Data was retrieved from students, patients, orthodontists and technicians filled the relevant fields of questionnaires. The patients were chosen from those who had passed their second follow up session. The following health service modules were assessed in the questionnaires: "The pre-admission phase for patients", "The pmcass of admission". "The treatment, the follow up and the retention phase", and "The laboratory". The results were analyzed in two categories; the patient related questions (clinic) including modules from entrance to dismissal and the technician related questions (appliance construction). The pattern of the answers in the first category was: 8.1% "Very poor", 12.7% "Poor', 32.5% "Moderate", 48.8% "Good" and 0% "Very good". The second category of questions yielded the following pattern of response: 16.1% voted "Very poor", 61.2% voted "Poor" and 12.6% voted "Moderate", 9.6% "Good" and 0% "Very good". In general, the majority of participants (38.4%) marked the answer choice "Good". Generally, the treatment provided for patients seemed to be of "good" standard. However, further attention has to be devoted to laboratory-related aspects of Orthodontic services.