Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36834235›Full record

SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2023

Oral Health-Related Quality of Life throughout Treatment with Clear Aligners in Comparison to Conventional Metal Fixed Orthodontic Appliances: A Systematic Review.

Eleftherios G Kaklamanos, Miltiadis A Makrygiannakis, Athanasios E Athanasiou

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  13. Quality of orthodontic care-A multicenter cohort study in a German convenience sample : Part 2: Cross-sectional patient-reported outcomes after orthodontic treatment.Journal of orofacial orthopedics = Fortschritte der Kieferorthopadie : Organ/official journal Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Kieferorthopadie · 2025
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  14. Review
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  18. Patient experiences with clear aligners: a scoping review.European journal of orthodontics · 2025
    Article
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  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Eleftherios G KaklamanosSchool of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-0513-5110
Miltiadis A MakrygiannakisSchool of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0003-2855-8623
Athanasios E AthanasiouSchool of Dentistry, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus.ORCID 0000-0002-8557-4833

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOrthodontic clear aligners constitute an alternative and increasingly used orthodontic treatment modality, offering enhanced esthetics with potential consequences regarding patients' oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).

objectiveSummarize and systematically evaluate existing evidence on the OHRQoL of patients treated with orthodontic clear aligners compared to treatment with conventional metal, fixed appliances. SEARCH

methodsWe searched without limitations six databases and searched manually the reference lists of relevant studies up to the end of October 2022. SELECTION CRITERIA: We looked for data from prospective studies that compared OHRQoL, using instruments that had undergone full psychometric validation, between orthodontic patients with clear aligners and labial, fixed, metal orthodontic appliances. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We extracted the data from the located studies, and we assessed the risk of bias with the Cochrane Collaboration suggested tools. The quality of available evidence was based on the GRADE approach.

resultsThree studies were identified. OHRQoL was impacted less by clear aligners compared to treatment with conventional labially placed, fixed, metal appliances. The exploratory meta-regression, with the time point of assessment as predictor, did not reveal any statistically significant effect. The quality of the available evidence ranged from very low to low.

conclusionsAccording to the exploratory synthesis of the limited available dataset, treatment with clear aligners could be associated with better OHRQoL ratings compared to treatment with conventional labially placed, metal, fixed appliances. However, the quality of the presented evidence renders further high-quality studies warranted to be able to reach safer conclusions.

Indexed as

Orthodontic Appliances, RemovableQuality of LifeHumansMetalsOrthodontic AppliancesOrthodontic Appliances, FixedProspective StudiesMetalsclear alignersOHRQoLorthodonticsquality of lifesystematic review

Identifiers

PMID36834235
PMCPMC9961780

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.