Nearly Half of Orthodontic Team Members Reported a Patient Harm Event in Past Year

Edited by Orthotown staff

Nearly half of orthodontic care providers surveyed in Denmark said they had been involved in a patient harm event within the past year, and orthodontists reported greater psychological and physical impact than other team members. The findings come from a study published online Oct. 11 in Orthodontics & Craniofacial Research.

Researchers at Aarhus University surveyed orthodontists, dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants attending two orthodontic conferences in Denmark. Of the 297 respondents, 45.9% had experienced a patient harm event in the past year.

After a harmful event, 87 respondents (49.2%) reported significant psychological distress and 38 (21.5%) reported physical symptoms. Another 16 (8.8%) said they had considered leaving their job.

Fear of causing harm was also common. Ninety-five participants (32.4%) reported high to very high levels of psychological stress related to that risk.

Orthodontists reported greater stress about the risk of causing harm than other orthodontic team members (P = .001). Orthodontists who had been involved in a harm event also reported greater psychological (P = .002) and physical (P = .001) impact than other clinical staff. No significant differences emerged by age, gender, or years of clinical experience.

Respondents most often named structured organizational support, supportive leadership, and peer support as the measures most important to reducing the impact of these events.

The study is the third in a series on patient harm from orthodontic care and focuses on the effect on care providers, sometimes called the second victim phenomenon. Kristine Læssøe-Arendt, Nikolaos Ferlias, Julian Woolley, and Peter Stoustrup of the Section of Orthodontics at Aarhus University conducted the study.

The findings are self-reported and come from conference attendees in a single country.

Sources:
Orthodontics & Craniofacial Research, “Patient Harm From Orthodontic Care (Part III): The Care Provider Perspective and the Second Victim Phenomenon,” published online Oct. 11, 2026: doi.org/10.1111/ocr.70195
PubMed, PMID 42860595: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42860595