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Consistency of orthodontic treatment planning decisions
R Lee1, T MacFarlane, K O'Brien
1Department of Dental Medicine and Surgery, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, UK.
Objective:
(i) To analyse the consistency of a group of orthodontists' treatment decisions and (ii) to identify factors that may influence this consistency.
Design:
Cross-sectional observational study.
Subjects:
Ten orthodontists.
Methods:
The orthodontists examined 60 case vignettes and recorded their treatment decisions on two separate occasions.
Main Measure:
Inter- and intra-examiner agreement was evaluated with the Kappa statistic.
Results:
The consistency within each orthodontist was moderate. However, between-orthodontist consistency was poor.
Conclusion:
It appears that there is marked variation between orthodontists in treatment planning decisions and this may reflect the lack of evidence for the effectiveness of competing treatments.