A review of clinical research in orthodontics.

The orthodontic journals should provide valid and reliable information that helps clinicians make appropriate decisions about patient care. The nature of the published literature has not been categorized. The American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (formerly the American Journal of Orthodontics) was reviewed for the years 1976, 1981, and 1986, to determine the frequency of clinical articles, the topics reported, the study designs used to obtain information, the senior author affiliation, and the major funding sources. This review demonstrates that more than half the articles in this Journal report data on patients, with the majority focusing on the evaluation or description of therapeutic interventions. Academic institutions contribute the majority of the clinical research, although only a few student theses are published. The major support for this work continues to be from departmental resources with little external funding. Despite the introduction of powerful research designs such as randomized clinical trials, these methods have not been widely adopted for orthodontic clinical research. The case report (study containing fewer than 10 patients with no control nor comparison group) continues to be the most frequently published format. Clinicians should become aware of the inherent weakness in the research designs generally used and recognize the limited information that can be obtained from such methods. Support for this research needs to be greatly expanded if the more powerful type of study required to provide valid and reliable clinical information is to be continued.