title: A longitudinal index study of orthodontic stability and relapse.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies of stability and relapse after orthodontic treatment report short-term stability is generally followed by slow relapse to the original condition. What these studies do not report is whether this relapse is continuous or interspersed with periods of improvement or stability.
  
  
  METHODS
  A subjective 0-10 index of malocclusion was used to record post-treatment stability and relapse over 10 to 12 years following fixed appliance orthodontic treatment of 24 patients. The severity scores were plotted on timelines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Episodes of change, both favourable and unfavourable, were interspersed with episodes of stability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Changes in the first 3 and 12 months post-treatment are indicative of the 10 to 12 years post-treatment outcomes. This index may provide a useful instrument to analyze patients and/or their study models longitudinally.
authors.affiliation: r.h.olive@uq.net.au
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Olive
authors.forename: Kaye E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Basford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy*; D015588:Observer Variation; D009967:Orthodontic Appliances; D018704:Orthodontic Retainers; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011336:Probability; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D016896:Treatment Outcome