What Does "Board Certification" Mean?
The Certificate of a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics is a unique achievement, a large step beyond the two years of advanced education required for a dentist to become a specialist in orthodontics.
Board Certification requires:- Application for examination
- A written examination to prove eligibility
- Proof of skills in diagnosis and treatment, based on actual patient treatment
Board Application requires confirmation of education as a dentist (one who has completed basic college education and four years of dental school to earn a D.D.S. or D.M.D. degree) and an orthodontist (one who has followed the general dental education with at least two more years of post-doctoral study in an approved Orthodontic course leading to a Certificate or Master's degree). Advanced courses in orthodontics concentrate on the diagnosis, prevention, and correction of dental irregularities and facial malformations in children and adults, using all types of orthodontic and dentofacial orthopedic treatment.
Board Eligibility requires completion of a comprehensive written examination covering all phases of orthodontic and dentofacial orthopedic care. The entire advanced speciality education must be reviewed in preparing for this examination, this time beyond college walls in an environment of actual patient care.
Final Examination is the phase where the candidate must demonstrate actual accomplishment in patient care, with detailed reports on the treatment provided for a broad range of patient problems. Preparation for this phase usually requires at least five years just to complete the treatment and follow-up on the different types of conditions required by the Board. Each detailed case report must be completely documented with x-ray films, photographs, and plaster casts made before and after treatment. Those records are studied by Directors of the American Board of Orthodontics, who then complete the examination process with a penetrating oral examination based on those reports and other aspects of patient care.
Completing all three phases of the examination earns the Certificate of the Board and the title Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics.
The significance of Board Certification goes far beyond achieving the approval of that panel of experts. The greatest benefits come from the indepth self-evaluation that goes into the years of preparation for Board Certification.
This voluntary effort in continuing education is unique in the way that it applies earlier classroom work and conventional continuing education to the real world of patient care, culminating in presentation of the results for critical review by a panel of nationally respected peers.
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