Introduction:

The Lean-Six-Sigma methodology is currently used in the health area in order to improve the quality and competitiveness of services; but there are still no reports of its use in the orthodontic area.

Objective

: to determine the post-orthodontic satisfaction by means of sigma levels of the patients who attend a teaching-assistance clinic in Bucaramanga, Colombia.

Methods:

Observational descriptive cross-sectional study. Population: 100 patients (female and male) who finish orthodontic treatment. Sample selection method: the entire population that had completed the treatment between July 2017 and June 2018 was selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. A telephone survey of 17 questions and seven dimensions of satisfaction was carried out. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated with the internal consistency of the questionnaire by means of the Cronbach's alpha in which 0.87 was obtained, and the Lawshe method was used for validity. The Lean-Six-Sigma methodology was used to assess the quality of satisfaction; Results are presented in percentage and sigma levels.

Results:

The quality of service satisfaction was 91.27% (conventionally measured) and 1.36 sigmas; in the group of 16 to 19 years it was 93.6% and 1.52 sigmas; and for the group over 27 years old, 84.9% and 1.03 sigma. The female sex reported 88.57% and 1.2 sigmas, and the male reported 93.46% with 1.51 sigmas.

Conclusions:

The satisfaction results in orthodontics, measured by conventional methods, showed acceptable percentages, but showed incompetent results when measured with sigma levels, which indicates that there are hidden problems to be identified and that they would correspond to a subsequent investigation.

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