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Table 7 Limitations of the included studies

From: Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of orthodontic mini implants in clinical practice: a systematic review

Study

Limitations of the included studies

Zawawi 2014 [85]

• No published or registered protocol of the research study (risk of selective reporting)

• The research design (survey)

• Questionnaires with only closed-ended questions

• Mostly non-defined questions

• No pilot testing of research procedures

• No reference was made to a reference standard for assessing implementation constructs. Survey instruments were not validated

• Unclear selection procedures but were clarified through contacting the author

• Unclear whether the answers of parents and siblings (13.3 % of the respondents) were representative for those of the stakeholders

• The surveyed population was recruited from 2 different settings

• Prior knowledge on OMIs of 12.7 % (21/165) of respondents

• Additional unclear issues in Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 and among the critical appraisal scores (Additional file 4)

Meeran 2012 [8]

• No published or registered protocol of the research study (risk of selective reporting)

• The research design (survey)

• Questionnaires with only closed-ended questions

• Mostly non-defined questions

• No pilot testing of research procedures

• No reference was made to a reference standard for assessing implementation constructs. Survey instruments were not validated

• Unclear selection procedures

• Summing the total numbers of respondents in the different settings does not add up to the total number of respondents referred to in other parts of the results

• The surveyed population was recruited from 2 different settings and were not equally distributed. Urban respondents were overrepresented in the total sample and had less non-users of OMIs compared with the non-urban population. This issue could have skewed outcomes

• Additional unclear issues in Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 and among the critical appraisal scores (Additional file 4)

Bock 2015 [5]

• No published or registered protocol of the research study was identified (risk of selective reporting)

• The research design (survey)

• Questionnaires with only closed-ended questions

• Mostly non-defined questions

• No pilot testing of research procedures

• No reference was made to a reference standard for assessing implementation constructs. Survey instruments were not validated

• Unclear terminology in the questionnaire had created confusion among respondents on the correct interpretation of questions. This misunderstanding could have resulted in an overestimation of all around users and OPI-only users and therefore an underestimation of MSC-only users, but this issue did not affect our populations of interest

• The numerators and denominators were not completely clear in the published article and were confirmed through contacting the authors of this research study

• Both strict non-users of OMIs and users of osseointegrated palatal implants were included among the respondents, i.e., 417 (95 %) strict non-users of OMIs and 22 (5 %) osseointegrated palatal implants users. Only strict non-users of OMIs would have been our preferred target population

• Various types of experience among subgroups of non-users of OMIs

• The 439 non-users were adequately described, but the characteristics of the 345 respondents on implementation constructs of these 439 non-users were not described

• The response rate of the non-users of OMIs was 78.6 % (345/439). The rationale and the consequences of this dropout were not described

• Additional unclear issues in Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 and among the critical appraisal scores (Additional file 4)