Objective: To determine patients' expectations, acceptance, and experience of pain with microimplant surgery compared to other orthodontic procedures.
Materials and methods: Seventy-eight microimplants were placed in 37 patients as an anchorage unit for orthodontic treatment. Patients were asked to rate anticipated pain and pain experienced with various orthodontic procedures (tooth extraction, insertion of separators, initial tooth alignment, and microimplant surgery) on a visual analog scale (VAS) over a 7-day period. One month after insertion of microimplants, patients were asked to rate their acceptance of the procedure using a structured questionnaire.
Results: Unlike other orthodontic procedures, patients expected to experience a significantly higher level of pain with microimplant surgery than they experienced (P < .001). The postoperative pain experienced decreased continuously from day 1 to day 7 for all orthodontic procedures (P < .05). The total area under the curve (AUC) of pain experienced over the 7-day period was significantly larger for initial tooth alignment than for microimplant surgery (P < .05). Most patients were satisfied with the microimplant surgery (76%) and would recommend it to a friend or family member (78%).
Conclusions: Patients tended to overestimate the pain anticipated with microimplant surgery. Patients were accepting of the surgery and would recommend it to others.