Experiences Of Individuals Concerning Combined Orthodontic and Orthognathic Surgical Treatment: A Qualitative Twitter Analysis

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this qualitative study was to analyze the content of posts on Twitter in order to gain an in-depth understanding of patients’ thoughts and experiences surrounding orthognathic surgical treatment. Materials and Methods: Using the Twitter search function, with the keywords “jaw surgery,” the 1,000 most recent posts on Twitter with relevance to a combined orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment were extracted. After applying relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria, the selected posts were analyzed using thematic analysis by 2 independent investigators. Distinct themes and subthemes were developed. Results: A total of 689 posts were analyzed; the 3 main themes identified in relation to orthognathic surgery were preoperative engagement, postoperative difficulties, and posttreatment satisfaction. Twelve subthemes were also identified, expressing issues such as anticipation or apprehension of the surgical procedure, postoperative pain and edema, dietary restrictions and weight loss, paresthesia, depression, and satisfaction with improvements in appearance and self-confidence. The 6 terms most frequently used in tweets were “recovery,” “braces,” “swollen,” “eat,” “liquid diet,” and “pain.” Conclusions: The findings from the present study can increase the awareness of clinicians involved in the combined orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment of patients with dentofacial deformities, allowing them to better educate and counsel their patients throughout the entire treatment process.

Instagram as a social media tool about orthognathic surgery

“…The former system of face-to-face discussion with the doctor is thus replaced with a convenient, free, and easily accessible alternative method social media on Internet. Watts et al 12 investigated Twitter posts under #jawsurgery dividing them into 3 main categories: pre-operative engagement, post-operative difficulties, and post-treatment satisfaction. The most commonly used tweets were ‘recovery,’ ‘eat,’ ‘braces,’ ‘liquid diet,’ ‘swollen,’ and ‘pain.’ As a result of the study, clinicians were advised to warn their patients who needed orthognathic surgery about social media and to offer comprehensive guidance about the treatment procedure.…”

Invisalign treatment from the patient perspective: A Twitter content analyses

“…Al-Moghrabi et al in a Twitter investigation on retainer included 660 tweets ( 10 ), Watts et al . included 689 tweets in a Twitter analyses on Orthodontics and Orthognatic surgery ( 11 ), while Graf et al included as little as 156 Tweets in a research about orthodontics and social media ( 12 ). Compared to these pervious reports, using manual coding, our study included a much larger sample size.…”

“…Noll et al used a software based one while we did it manually. A manual detailed selection of individual comments is deemed to be more accurate than a software based one according to various authors ( 10 , 11 , 16 ). A high percentage of negative tweets can be a surprising finding for a treatment strongly marketed by the owning company as a treatment offering an improved patient experience over traditional braces, in terms of comfort, treatment time, force level, overall aesthetic and an improved quality of life.…”

“…Traditional research tools used to assess patients’ perspectives, such as surveys or questionnaires have the drawback of reducing the themes asking specific questions and so restricting the emergence of new patient based perspectives derived from their very unique experience of the treatment. Face-to-face interviews can theoretically overcome the shortcomings of questionnaire but have some limitations associated with the reluctance that could some patients have in sharing experiences and perspectives in an uninhibited manner due to the interpersonal contact ( 11 ). Twitter instead allows to collect the unvarnished opinions of patients sheltered by their fairly anonymous profiles and nicknames and is therefore a preferred place to know about their true own experience.…”

Self-Perception of Brazilian Adolescents who need Orthodontic Treatment

“…Research indicates [3,17,18] that 40% of patients report being uncomfortable with malocclusion and 93% sought treatment mainly for esthetic reasons. Other reasons for treatment were related to masticatory difficulties, joint problems (11%), and speech difficulties (7%).…”