Aligner treatment performed by general dentists or orthodontists

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

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Published: Report no: ut202510 Registration no: SBU 2025/414

Question

What systematic reviews have been published on aligner treatment, regarding differences in treatment outcomes and patient safety, when performed by general dentists versus orthodontists?

PECO

Population: Patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with aligners
Exposure: Aligner treatment performed by general dentists
Comparison: Aligner treatment performed by orthodontists
Outcome: Differences in treatment outcomes and patient safety

Method

A systematic literature search was performed using the following databases: Medline (Ovid), Scopus och Embase. The search was limited to systematic reviews.
Two authors independently assessed the abstracts of all identified studies.

Identified literature

No relevant systematic reviews were identified.

Literature search

Medline via OvidSP 12 May 05

Title: Aligners
/ = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; .sh = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; exp = Term from MeSH including terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy; .ti,ab = Title or abstract; .tw = Title or abstract; .kf = Keywords; .kw = Keywords, exact; .bt = Book title. NLM Bookshelf; .pt = Publication type; .ja = Journal abbreviation; .af = All fields; adjn = Adjacent. Proximity operator retrieving adjacent words, adj3 retrieves records with search terms within two terms from each other; * or $ = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Intervention:
1. Aligner* OR invisalign 2702
2. Orthodontic Appliances, Removable/ 3325
3. 1 OR 2 5321
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis / randomized controlled trials2
4. ((Systematic Review/ or Meta-Analysis/ or Cochrane Database Syst Rev.ja. or ((systematic adj4 review) or "meta analys*" or metaanalys*).ti,bt,ab.) not (editorial/ or letter/ or case reports/)) 540 812
Final result
5. 3 AND 4 150

2. Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy for identifying randomized trials in MEDLINE: sensitivity- and precision-maximizing version (2008 revision); Ovid format. The Cochrane Collaboration; 2008. Available from: https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04-technical-supplement-searching-and-selecting-studies#section-3-6-1. with modifications: the following terms are added: clinical trial, phase iii.pt. ; randomised.ab. ; ("Phase 3" or "phase3" or "phase III" or P3 or "PIII").ti,ab,kw.

Scopus via scopus.com 12 May 05

Title: Aligners

TITLE-ABS-KEY = Title, abstract or keywords (including indexed keywords and author keywords); ALL = All fields; W/n = Within. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; PRE/n = Precedes by. Proximity operator, the first term in the search must precede the second by n words; LIMIT-TO (X) = Includes only results of specified type, e.g., publication type or time range; DOCTYPE = Publication type; “re” = review; “le” = letter; “ed” = editorial; “ch” = book chapter; “cp” = conference proceedings; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms   Items found
Intervention: 
1. TITLE-ABS-KEY(Aligner* OR invisalign) 5087
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
2. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( systematic W/2 review ) OR "meta analy*" OR metaanaly* ) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “le”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ed”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ch”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “cp”))  
Final result
3. 1 AND 2 172

Embase via Elsevier 13 May 25

Title: Aligners
/de = Term from the EMTREE controlled vocabulary; /exp = Term from the EMTREE controlled vocabulary, including all narrower terms in the hierarchy; ti = Title; ab = Abstract; kw = Author keywords; it = Publication type; NEAR/n = Near. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; * = Truncation; ‘ ‘ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Intervention:
1. 'orthodontic aligner'/exp 506
2. 'orthodontic aligner'/exp OR 'removable orthodontic appliance'/exp 1254
3. ('orthodontic aligner'/exp OR 'removable orthodontic appliance'/expOR (Aligner* or invisalign):ti,ab,kw) 3421
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
4. ('systematic review'/de OR 'meta analysis'/de OR [cochrane review]/lim OR ((systematic NEAR/4 review) OR 'meta analys*' OR metaanalys*):ti,ab NOT ('case report'/de OR 'editorial'/it OR 'letter'/it OR 'note'/it))  
Final result
5. 3 AND 4 140
Page published
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