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Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms

Introduction The sale of orthodontic materials, considered as medical devices, is regulated in order to protect patients. The availability of orthodontic products on e-commerce platforms, however, may go unregulated and compromise patient safety. Objective The present study aimed to investigate the...

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Main Authors: Kamarudin, Yasmin, Zakaria, Nor Nadia, Xinhui, Violette Ong
Format: Article
Published: Sciendo 2022
Subjects:
RK Dentistry
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/42373/
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spelling my.um.eprints.423732023-10-12T00:52:44Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/42373/ Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms Kamarudin, Yasmin Zakaria, Nor Nadia Xinhui, Violette Ong RK Dentistry Introduction The sale of orthodontic materials, considered as medical devices, is regulated in order to protect patients. The availability of orthodontic products on e-commerce platforms, however, may go unregulated and compromise patient safety. Objective The present study aimed to investigate the sale of fixed orthodontic appliances on a local and global e-commerce platform. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional analysis of orthodontic materials sold on Shopee and Amazon was conducted using a specific keyword search for brackets, arch wires and ligatures. After deleting duplicates and irrelevant search results, the top 50 products for each keyword search were analysed. Product name, the type of product, seller, cost, star rating, the number of reviews, the number of sales, shipping location and brand identification were recorded. Brand registration with a medical device regulatory authority was checked. Collected data were tabulated in Google (spread)sheet to derive descriptive statistics and frequency tables. Results A total of 800 search results were screened. Three hundred and forty-eight relevant results were identified, approximately two-thirds of which originated from Shopee. Ligatures generated the highest search outcome in both Shopee (39%) and Amazon (80%). Fixed orthodontic materials sold on Shopee resulted in a larger number of reviews, higher star ratings and a lower cost per item compared to those supplied by Amazon. Products on Amazon were more likely to have brand identification (97%) compared to Shopee (5%). None of the identifiable brands on Shopee were registered with regulatory bodies, whereas eight products listed on Amazon were registered. A large portion of shipping locations originated from China for both e-commerce platforms. Conclusions Orthodontic brackets, arch wires and ligatures are more readily available on Shopee compared to Amazon. The quality and safety of these products cannot be assured as the majority of the products were either not clearly labelled or their registration was not identified under the regulation of medical devices. Sciendo 2022-01-01 Article PeerReviewed Kamarudin, Yasmin and Zakaria, Nor Nadia and Xinhui, Violette Ong (2022) Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms. Australasian Orthodontic Journal, 38 (1). pp. 22-28. ISSN 2207-7472, DOI https://doi.org/10.21307/aoj-2022.003 <https://doi.org/10.21307/aoj-2022.003>. 10.21307/aoj-2022.003
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic RK Dentistry
spellingShingle RK Dentistry
Kamarudin, Yasmin
Zakaria, Nor Nadia
Xinhui, Violette Ong
Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms
description Introduction The sale of orthodontic materials, considered as medical devices, is regulated in order to protect patients. The availability of orthodontic products on e-commerce platforms, however, may go unregulated and compromise patient safety. Objective The present study aimed to investigate the sale of fixed orthodontic appliances on a local and global e-commerce platform. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional analysis of orthodontic materials sold on Shopee and Amazon was conducted using a specific keyword search for brackets, arch wires and ligatures. After deleting duplicates and irrelevant search results, the top 50 products for each keyword search were analysed. Product name, the type of product, seller, cost, star rating, the number of reviews, the number of sales, shipping location and brand identification were recorded. Brand registration with a medical device regulatory authority was checked. Collected data were tabulated in Google (spread)sheet to derive descriptive statistics and frequency tables. Results A total of 800 search results were screened. Three hundred and forty-eight relevant results were identified, approximately two-thirds of which originated from Shopee. Ligatures generated the highest search outcome in both Shopee (39%) and Amazon (80%). Fixed orthodontic materials sold on Shopee resulted in a larger number of reviews, higher star ratings and a lower cost per item compared to those supplied by Amazon. Products on Amazon were more likely to have brand identification (97%) compared to Shopee (5%). None of the identifiable brands on Shopee were registered with regulatory bodies, whereas eight products listed on Amazon were registered. A large portion of shipping locations originated from China for both e-commerce platforms. Conclusions Orthodontic brackets, arch wires and ligatures are more readily available on Shopee compared to Amazon. The quality and safety of these products cannot be assured as the majority of the products were either not clearly labelled or their registration was not identified under the regulation of medical devices.
format Article
author Kamarudin, Yasmin
Zakaria, Nor Nadia
Xinhui, Violette Ong
author_facet Kamarudin, Yasmin
Zakaria, Nor Nadia
Xinhui, Violette Ong
author_sort Kamarudin, Yasmin
title Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms
title_short Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms
title_full Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms
title_fullStr Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms
title_full_unstemmed Orthodontics on sale: Fixed appliances on E-commerce platforms
title_sort orthodontics on sale: fixed appliances on e-commerce platforms
publisher Sciendo
publishDate 2022
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/42373/
_version_ 1781704634796081152
score 13.211869

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