Are specialist outreach clinics for orthodontic consultation effective? A randomised controlled trial

Objective To develop outreach clinics for orthodontic consultation and eval uate their costs and effectiveness. Design Single centre randomised controlled trial with random allocation of referred patients to outreach or main base consultation appointments. Setting One hospital orthodontic department and three community health cent re clinics in Greater Manchester. Subjects 324 patients who were referred for orthodontic treatment. Main outcome measures The outcome of consultation, the cost and duration of the visit and the consumer's perceptions of the visit. Results There were no differences in outcome of the consultation. While con sumer travel costs and the duration of appointments were significantly high er for the main base clinics, these differences were not great. However, co nsumers preferred to attend an appointment in an outreach clinic. Conclusions There do not appear to be marked advantages or disadvantages in providing consultation appointments for orthodontics in outreach clinics.