Invisalign treatment from the patient perspective: A Twitter content analyses

Area of Science:

• Orthodontics
• Dental Technology
• Social Media Analysis

Background:

• Patient perspective is crucial for enhancing treatment satisfaction.
• Qualitative analysis of social media data offers insights into patient experiences.
• Invisalign (clear aligners) treatment satisfaction is a growing area of patient interest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To qualitatively describe the content of Twitter posts regarding Invisalign treatment.
• To gain a deeper understanding of the patient experience with clear aligners.
• To identify key themes and sentiments expressed by patients undergoing orthodontic treatment.

Main Methods:

• Prospective collection of 1564 public tweets over four weeks.
• Utilized Awario™ social media monitoring tool for data acquisition.
• Thematic analysis by three investigators to identify key themes and subthemes.

Main Results:

• Identified three major themes: Pre-treatment, Treatment, and Patient/Clinician Relationship.
• Pre-treatment tweets were predominantly positive, highlighting patient expectations.
• Treatment phase tweets showed a balance of positive (satisfaction, self-esteem) and negative (pain, diet impact, pronunciation) feedback.

Conclusions:

• This study enhances understanding of patient experiences with clear aligners.
• Increased clinician awareness of patient-reported issues can improve orthodontic treatment and counseling.
• Social media provides valuable qualitative data on patient perspectives in orthodontics.