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Turbill EA, Richmond S et al. Eur J Orthod 2003; 25: 175–183

In the UK, orthodontic treatment has been reported as discontinued by 12–25% of patients depending in part on where they are treated. This study compared characteristics of samples of 1431 completed and 160 discontinued cases from the General Dental Services of the NHS during 1990–1991.

Subjects in the discontinued group differed significantly from the completed group in several respects: mean age 10 months older, fewer treated with fixed appliances, more treated with extra-oral traction and fewer treated by practitioners with orthodontic qualifications.

Data on socioeconomic inequality showed significantly higher deprivation scores for certain indices, but not others, and the authors comment that since the regression model did not predict discontinuation, this factor is inappropriate for decisions on when to offer treatment.