Co-delivery of orthodontic treatment: Perceptions of supervising clinicians and orthodontic therapists

Objectives:

To establish how orthodontics is currently co-delivered by orthodontic therapists (OTs) and supervising clinicians (SCs), and to explore both sets of clinicians’ perceptions of these working arrangements.

Design and setting:

Cross-sectional survey using an online questionnaire.

Participants:

General Dental Council (GDC)-registered OTs and specialist or non-specialist dentists who supervise OTs and work in the UK.

Methods:

A link to the online questionnaire was emailed to all members of the British Orthodontic Society and Orthodontic National Group and was posted in two Facebook groups. Reminder emails and Facebook posts were sent.

Results:

A total of 161 responses were received from 89 SCs and 72 OTs. Most worked in primary care as their main clinical role. Most OTs in primary care provided a mix of NHS and private care. Appointments with OTs were most likely to be supervised every other visit, with more frequent supervision reported by SCs, and by clinicians in secondary care. Remote supervision of some kind was reported by 63% of OTs. Different barriers and enablers to effective working practices were suggested by OTs and SCs. OTs reported improved patient satisfaction as the main consequence of their utilisation in the orthodontic workforce while SCs described improved clinical efficiency.

Conclusions:

OTs reported improved patient satisfaction as the main consequence of their utilisation, whereas SCs described improved clinical efficiency. Some OTs felt that SCs should be more readily available and that OTs should have more autonomy. SCs would prefer more time to supervise and provide prescriptions.