The duration of orthodontics treatment is of prime importance to both the patient and the clinician.
The aim of the study is to document the pattern of orthodontic visits and the average time needed to deliver different types of orthodontic treatment according to local circumstances in Benghazi Dental school.
Subjects and methods 400 (274 females and 126 males) patients treated in the department of orthodontics within the period 2008 to 2012, the file records of these patients were retrieved from the department archives. All of the patients had suitable orthodontic treatment and were only included if their treatment was completed and discharged at the end of treatment.
Results: From the total of 400 patients, 388 patients had class I malocclusion, 10 with class II division 1, and another two with class II division 2.
Generally, the length of treatment extended from one month to 79.3 months (0.1 to 6.6 years), the median period 16.9 months or about 1.4 years. There is no consistent pattern regarding the length of treatment according to the type of malocclusion or to the im-plied technique, but more time was spent in treating patients with fixed appliances than those with removable appliance. Likewise, more time was spent treating patients with class I malocclusion problems than those with class II malocclusion problems.
Conclusion: invaluable information can be drawn from the real-time treatment procedures. It is better if the expected treatment time can be predicted beforehand for both scientific and administrative purposes as well as for the patient.