Influence of clinicians’ experience and gender on extraction decision in orthodontics

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if, in class I borderline cases, experienced orthodontists choose non-extraction treatments more frequently than orthodontists with less experience. A secondary aim is to evaluate if clinicians’ gender and place of education play a role in extraction decision-making. An online survey was developed using three class I borderline patient cases. The survey included questions about clinicians’ demographics as well as clinical questions about the selected cases. The survey was distributed to approximately 2000 clinicians through the American Association of Orthodontics. Two-hundred and fifty three responses were collected. A trend was observed where clinicians with more than 15 years of experience preferred an extraction treatment option more frequently than clinicians with less than 5 years of experience. There was no association between gender and place of education and the decision to extract in the selected borderline cases. Crowding, patient’s profile, and lower incisor inclination were among the top three reasons chosen by clinicians for both the extraction and non-extraction treatment decisions.