Limited orthodontic services for children can be effectively provided by a general dentist supervised by an orthodontic specialist using teleconferencing, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in Dallas, Texas, this month.

Socially disadvantaged children have limited access to orthodontic services and this approach could increase availability, according to the study by Jeffrey Berndt, of the University of North Carolina, and colleagues.

An orthodontic specialist at a remote site used teleconferencing to supervise a general dentist who provided limited orthodontic services to Medicaid-eligible children in a public health clinic in Toppenish, Washington.

Treatment results of the general dentist were compared with those obtained by orthodontic graduate students, supervised by orthodontists, at a public health clinic in Seattle, Washington. The two groups of children and the treatments were similar.

The study showed significant orthodontic improvement in both groups of children. The results suggest early orthodontic treatment provided by a sufficiently trained general dentist, supervised by an orthodontic specialist via teleconference, is a viable approach to reducing the severity of malocclusion in groups of disadvantaged children where referral to an orthodontist is not feasible, the authors concluded.