Abstract
A questionnaire titled "Questionnaire for the Assessment of Masticatory Function with Aligners" was administered using Google Forms to 240 patients in treatment with clear aligners. The survey was validated through the reliability test using the test-retest method. This method had a higher correlation coefficient of 0.9 across all items (with a cutoff of 0.8) with statistical significance, and an excellent internal correlation coefficient (α > 0.9). The statistical analysis performed consisted of descriptive analysis, frequencies, percentages, Pearson's correlation test and Friedman's test. Pearson's test showed a statistically significant correlation between all items except between meat or clams and yogurt or ice cream and with mozzarella or soft cheese regarding food chewing difficulties. Pearson's test showed a statistically significant correlation between all items regarding food residues. A total of 69.2% of the cohort reported some movements of aligners during mastication. In total, 88.3% of them affirmed not to have perceived deformations or breakage of aligners during chewing. Furthermore, 79.2% of them declared that they would continue to eat if eating with aligners was proven to speed up treatment. Wearing clear aligners while chewing foods such as yogurt, ice cream, soft cheese, bread, rice, etc., can be possible and can help shorten the duration of orthodontic treatment, benefiting both the patient and the orthodontist. However, further research using qualitative methods is needed to understand the barriers and facilitators to chewing food with aligners.
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