Improving your smile and bite is something both exciting and can provide a lifetime of benefits. At our orthodontic practice, we often encounter patients who are unsure whether they should seek orthodontic care from a general dentist or an orthodontist. Understanding the differences in qualifications and training between these two types of dental professionals is essential for making an informed decision about your orthodontic treatment. Let’s explore the unique roles of dentists and orthodontists, and why specialized orthodontic care can make a significant difference in achieving the best results.
Formal Orthodontic Education
After dental school, which is 4 years, orthodontists return to school for 24-36 months of full time training through a residency program accredited by the American Dental Association(ADA) and the Commission on Dental Accreditation(CODA). These are highly competitive specialty programs, requiring dental students to usually graduate at the top of their class and achieve high test scores. During these programs residents are devoted full time to learn how to properly diagnose and treat any type of orthodontic case. In all these programs can run upwards of 5000 hours of intensive supervised training by orthodontic faculty.
Dental Education
Dental school is 4 years, and is very intensive and challenging in itself. In dental school students learn about all areas of dentistry from cleanings, fillings, crowns, root canals and more. The clinical and didactic training prepares dentists to perform these routine type procedures. One area that is not focused on in dental school is orthodontics. Most dental schools orthodontic training is several lectures on the basics of malocclusion and then a few days shadowing in the orthodontic residency clinic. Given that orthodontic treatment takes 1-3 years and is ongoing, dental schools do not train students in orthodontic care, but give the most fundamental background on what orthodontics is. Because orthodontists have to go to dental school first they know exactly what type of exposure dental students are given. As a dental student, I performed no orthodontic treatment on any patients, but given my interest, spent additional time shadowing in the orthodontic clinics to learn as much as I could and show my interest to the faculty.
Legality
It is completely legal for dentists to do orthodontic work. Despite the little to zero training in orthodontics, once a dentist has their license they can legally perform all dental procedures, no matter what their experience is.
Weekend Courses
Given that dentists do not receive orthodontic training in school, courses to learn orthodontics are very common. It is very challenging to be accepted to orthodontic residency so many dentists try to learn how through these types of courses. Many of these courses are for-profit by companies and vendors with the only qualification being paying enrollment fees. There are no admission criteria for these courses. These courses usually take place over a weekend and are held in hotels or conference centers. Often, they lack hands-on clinical experience, and providers likely won't perform any treatment on real patients before offering these services in their own practice. Once the seminar is over, there is no ongoing support or oversight for the progression of treatment. If complications arise, the instructor from the weekend course is no longer available to provide assistance to the dentist that signed up for the class. It would certainly be difficult to replicate the comprehensive training an orthodontic resident receives over a weekend. Often in these courses, dentists are told that they will be able to go back to their offices on Monday and start offering this service! They may even tell you that they can complete it faster and cheaper then anyone else after completing their course.
What Does This Mean?
While your dentist can legally perform orthodontic care, an orthodontic specialist is most qualified to complete orthodontic treatment given their training. Imagine if you found out the the provider completing your or your child's knee surgery learned about the procedure at a course a year ago and has never completed one themselves! Just like you would not seek your general doctor to perform heart surgery, orthopedic joint replacement or brain surgery, it is best to seek an orthodontic specialist for the services of your smile and bite. You only get one set of teeth and they should be trusted to an orthodontic specialist.