Posttreatment occlusal variability among angle Class I nonextraction patients.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that variability among posttreatment Angle Class I, nonextraction patients is not related to patient and treatment factors.


METHODS
One hundred thirty-eight subjects were randomly selected from the archives of the Department of Orthodontics, St Louis University. Patient factors evaluated included age, sex, mandibular plane angle, and ANB angle; treatment factors included active treatment time and supervising orthodontist. Objective Grading System (OGS) scores for six of the criteria (excluding interproximal contacts and root angulations) and the anterior Bolton ratio were measured on the posttreatment study casts.


RESULTS
The partial mean overall OGS score was 24.9 +/- 8.0. Occlusal contact was the most important component contributing to the overall score, followed by alignment. Variation in the OGS scores was explained by sex, pretreatment mandibular plane and ANB angles, the posttreatment anterior Bolton ratio, and treatment duration. The partial overall OGS scores increased by approximately one point for every 4 degrees increase in the mandibular plane angle and nearly one point for every 3 additional months of treatment. Approximately 16% and 15% of the variation in alignment and buccolingual inclination, respectively, was due to the treating orthodontist.


CONCLUSIONS
Posttreatment occlusal variability among Class I nonextraction patients can be partially explained by patient- and treatment-related factors.
Wes Fleming
J
J
Department of Orthodontics, St Louis University, St Louis, MO, USA.
Buschang
Peter H
PH
Kim
K B
KB
Oliver
Donald R
DR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D019985:Benchmarking; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003766:Dental Occlusion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008311:Malocclusion, Angle Class I / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D014081:Tooth Extraction; D016896:Treatment Outcome