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Dr Chauca made a valid point—that patient-reported outcomes can be integrated with evidence-based orthodontics, thus enabling us to move toward patient-centered orthodontics. Patient centricity has been an integral component of evidence-based orthodontics, since patient preferences, along with clinical expertise and best research evidence form its quintessential triad.1Sackett D.L. Rosenberg W.M. Gray J.A. Haynes R.B. Richardson W.S. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't.BMJ. 1996; 312: 71-72Crossref PubMed Google Scholar However, this patient centricity has been taken to completely another level in the times we are living in currently, thanks to advances in technology and the omnipotent effect of the World Wide Web.2Mulimani P. Vaid N. Through the murky waters of “Web-based orthodontics,” can evidence navigate the ship?.APOS Trends Orthod. 2017; 7: 207-210Crossref Google Scholar Marketing orthodontic appliances to patients directly and getting the appliances delivered to homes, all while eliminating the need to see a health care practitioner, let alone an orthodontist, in person, will this become the “new normal” or the logical culmination of patient-centered orthodontics in ages to come, is a critical issue.3Smile direct club.https://smiledirectclub.com/Google Scholar As Ackerman et al4Ackerman J.I. Nguyen T. Proffit W.R. The decision-making process in orthodontics.in: Graber T.M. Vanarsdall Jr., R.L. Orthodontics: current principles and techniques. Mosby, St Louis2012Google Scholar rightly postulated, the social and political forces affecting the funding of health care and the lack of evidence for basing orthodontic intervention on oral health reasons, are important reasons for the peculiarities of modern day or new age orthodontics. Nevertheless, the fact remains that as orthodontists, we cannot abdicate our responsibilities toward the well-being of our patients and the scientific pursuit of research outcomes toward that end. Hence, patient-reported outcome measures assume new importance, although their utility has long since been advocated in the orthodontic literature. Dr Chauca also wrote about standardization and development of a “core outcome set.” I addressed this in my article: “To facilitate comparisons, studies need to use standardized diagnostic criteria and outcome assessments; an initiative to establish the same is under way with the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) project.” It is heartening to see that others have taken the time and effort to elaborate on this point. Research methodology is reorienting itself to patient-reported outcome measures for enhanced contextual assessment of treatment success, in the face of mounting evidence that patient parameters for judging a treatment as satisfactory often differ from the occlusal and metric parameters used by health care practitioners.4Ackerman J.I. Nguyen T. Proffit W.R. The decision-making process in orthodontics.in: Graber T.M. Vanarsdall Jr., R.L. Orthodontics: current principles and techniques. Mosby, St Louis2012Google Scholar However, as systematic review evidence has shown, the full potential of patient-reported outcome measures in clinical practice remains unknown.5Marshall S. Haywood K. Fitzpatrick R. Impact of patient-reported outcome measures on routine practice: a structured review.J Eval Clin Pract. 2006; 12: 559-568Crossref PubMed Scopus (429) Google Scholar Research based on patient-reported outcome measures is still in its nascent stage and going forward, establishing core patient-reported outcome measures as well as designing studies to evaluate them as truly reflecting patient-centered care may provide more clarity on this emerging field. Moving toward patient-centered orthodontics: Patient-reported outcome measuresAmerican Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial OrthopedicsVol. 153Issue 3PreviewSir William Osler, considered the father of modern medicine, described the practice of medicine as “a science of uncertainty and an art of probability.”1 Evidence-based orthodontics reduces uncertainty in the decision-making process by promoting the generation, accessibility, and implementation of good-quality evidence, and it increases the probability of a successful outcome by integrating this evidence with the orthodontist's clinical expertise and the patient's treatment needs and preferences. Full-Text PDF