title: What are patients' expectations of orthodontic treatment: a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  What patients expect to happen during treatment or benefit from the treatment might influence the subsequent factors such as treatment outcome, patient satisfaction, patient's cooperation as well as compliance. The aim of this systematic review is to assess the role of patients' expectations from orthodontic treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic literature search of four databases Pubmed, Cochrane, Web of Science and PsychINFO was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Studies reporting expectations regarding orthodontic treatment were selected and a narrative review was conducted. The quality of study was rated according to STROBE statements and the methodology as well as key findings were summarized.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen studies (14 papers) were finally included for analysis. Among them, only one was a randomized control trial, while the rest included one cohort study, two questionnaire-developments and ten cross-sectional studies. The STROBE quality of reporting scores of the studies ranged from 12 to 18. Seven papers described expectations of the treatment experiences, along with seven talking about benefit expectations from the treatment. Dental appearance and function improvement were most expected in studies relate to the treatment benefits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Orthodontics appears to have adopted various standardized questionnaires. However, most of them are poor in the quality of methodology and results analyses, which prohibit synthesizing sufficient evidence to help identify which factors influence patient expectations. The evidence of "expectations" affecting treatment outcomes is not found in current research. Future studies are needed to better understand the impact of "expectation" on the treatment both theoretically and experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital 4/F, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, SAR, China. coral132@hku.hk.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Nanjing Medical University, HanZhong Road 140, NanJing, 210029, China.
authors.forename: Dan-Dan
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital 2/F, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Qi
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology and Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital 3/F, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
authors.forename: Colman Patrick Joseph
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital 4/F, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mattheos
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D009970:Orthodontics; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome