title: Patients', parents', and orthodontists' perceptions of the need for and costs of additional procedures to reduce treatment time.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate patients', parents', and orthodontists' perspectives on orthodontic treatment duration and techniques for accelerating the rate of tooth movement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescent patients (n = 200) and their parents (n = 200), and adult patients (n = 50) from a multidoctor practice were personally surveyed regarding treatment duration and acceptance of appliances and techniques to enhance the speed of orthodontic treatment, and how much increase in fees they were willing to pay for these. Members of the American Association of Orthodontists were surveyed electronically regarding their willingness to use these techniques and appliances and the costs they were willing to pay for them.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 683 orthodontists replied to the electronic survey (7.5%). Approximately 70% of the orthodontists who replied to the survey were interested in adopting additional clinical procedures to reduce treatment time. No significant association was found between practice characteristics and interest in adopting clinical procedures to reduce treatment time. The invasiveness of the procedure was inversely related to its acceptance in all groups surveyed. Most orthodontists are willing to pay only up to 20% of their treatment fee to companies for the use of technologies that reduce treatment time, and most patients and parents were willing to pay only up to a 20% increase in fees for these approaches. Orthodontists thought that increases in the rate of tooth movement could pose a problem for fee collection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Orthodontists and patients alike are interested in techniques that can accelerate tooth movement. Similarities between all groups were found regarding the acceptance of different approaches to accelerate tooth movement and the percentage of the orthodontic fee that would be paid for these techniques. Less-invasive techniques had greater acceptability in all groups.
authors.affiliation: Associate professor and program director, Division of Orthodontics, Department of Craniofacial Sciences, Charles Burstone Professor, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Conn. Electronic address: Furibe@uchc.edu.
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Uribe
authors.affiliation: Postrgraduate resident, Division of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Soumya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Padala
authors.affiliation: Associate professor, Department of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
authors.forename: Veerasathpurush
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Allareddy
authors.affiliation: Professor and head, Department of Craniofacial Sciences, Alumni Endowed, Chair, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Conn.
authors.forename: Ravindra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nanda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000601:surgery; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005249:Fees and Charges / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010290:Parents; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*