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Published on: February 23, 2024
Patient compliance with Hawley retainers fitted with the SMART(®) sensor: a prospective clinical pilot study
Paul Hyun1, Charles Brian Preston, Thikriat S Al-Jewair
1a Postgraduate Orthodontic Resident, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.
Objective:
To evaluate the compliance of patients while wearing maxillary Hawley retainers embedded with SMART microsensors.
Methods:
The sample population consisted of 22 patients who were divided into an experimental (group A) and a control group (group B). Group A was informed that they would be monitored through the use of SMART microsensors, while group B was not informed that they would be monitored. After the delivery of the retainers (T0), the patients were evaluated at T1 and T2, represented by 6- and 12-week follow-up visits, respectively. At T1, group B was informed of our ability to monitor their compliance. Both groups continued wearing their retainers during T1 to T2.
Results:
During T0-T1, Group A wore their retainers for an average of 16.3 hours (SD 4.39), while group B wore their appliances for an average of 10.6 hours (SD 5.36, t = 2.426, P = .027). Although group B increased their retainer wear by 0.5 hours/day from T1 to T2, this increase was not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
Despite significant differences being noted between the two groups at T1, group B did not show significant mean changes in their wear time before and after becoming aware of the use of the SMART microsensor.
