A comparative analysis of Class II treatments: a retrospective/prospective alternative

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Abstract
Because of a perceived need to examine problems more pressing than ‘now versus later’ or ‘headgear versus functionals’, a retrospective/prospective alternative to the randomized clinical trial has been developed. In this approach, discriminant analysis is used to identify samples of ex‐patients who, prior to treatment, were equally susceptible to various contemporary treatment alternatives: extraction, non‐extraction; orthodontics, surgery; fixed versus functional. This method of ‘confounder summarization’ has made it possible for us to conduct a wide variety of long‐term comparisons and, in the process, to assess treatment efficiency, stability, esthetics, functional impact, and interaction with the pattern of facial growth. These studies are described in broad outline and serve as examples of the type of data that can be generated in a timely fashion by carefully planned, quasi‐experimental investigations.

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