Non-completion of active orthodontic treatment

Over a 1-year period, all patients attending a consultant orthodontist's new patient clinics in North Derbyshire and whose treatment plans involved active appliance treatment, were accepted into a prospective longitudinal study. In all 294 patients were included in the study. Subsequent to the consultant's new patient clinic the patients' active treatments were undertaken in the Hospital, General, or Community Dental Services. Four years after the commencement of the study, 207 patients had completed active treatment and 50 had non-completed during active treatment. This gave an overall non-completion rate (NCR) of 19.5 per cent for the study. Of the 50 patients who did not complete treatment during active treatment 23 (46 per cent) non-completed during the first 6 months of active treatment. A predictive model of non-completion of active orthodontic treatment (NCT) over time is suggested.