Removable retainer wear is most related to patient comfort and acceptance. Patient compliance is essential for retention and maintenance of the orthodontic treatment results. Even though patients are educated about the need for prolonged retention after active treatment and asked to sign informed consent regarding the risk of noncompliance (relapse) prior to treatment, most orthodontists would estimate that at least half of their teenage patients do not comply at optimal levels. The aim of the present study was to quantify teenage patient compliance with removable maxillary retention and compare actual usage vs prescribed usage between subjects who knew they were being monitored via an implanted microsensor in the retainer and those subjects who were unaware of any monitoring. The final sample consisted of 9 subjects in the test group (5 males and 4 females) and 10 subjects in the control group (4 males and 6 females). The evidence suggests that individuals who were made aware of the orthodontist’s ability to monitor compliance wore the device for a significantly larger number of hours per day than those who were unaware of this fact. Patients reporting full usage of the retainer wore the appliance a mean of 4.3 hours more per day than those reporting less than full usage, holding all other variables constant. Patients who misrepresented their retainer use (reported full usage but wore the device less than 19 hours per day) wore the appliance a mean 12.4 hours less than the more honest patients who participated in the study. Orthodontics 2011;12:22–27.
Key words: orthodontic retention, compliance, microsensor