Orthodontists or Dentists

Smythe

If getting braces, the concensus here appears to be the following:

It is better to go to someone who is a member of the Orthodontic Society as they have a Masters qualification in orthodontics.

Some dentists may be good at providing braces, but as a patient generally you will not know who is good and who is not, as they don't have the Masters qualification.

Though my question is:
If getting braces how should one think of someone who is not in an Orthodontic Society but does have a M Orth qualification? Should they be regarded the same as someone who is in category 1 above, or regarded the same as someone in category 2?

lexa

I think the definitive list of specialist orthodontists is here
http://www.dentalcouncil.ie/files/Division%20of%20Orthodontics%202a.pdf

Anyone on this register has a post-grad qualification which the dental council considers sufficient to be regarded as a specialist. I can't imagine any specialist would not be on this list, which seems pretty recent.

Most of the orthodontists on the register would also be on the Orthodontic Society of Ireland website, however I think it's just an organisation that promotes the industry rather than having any statutory footing so there may be some anomalies between the two with some on the specialist register not being on this website.

davo10

Smythe only someone with the requisite qualifications is allowed to call themselves an "Orthodontist", as lexa posted, the register contains the names of all the specialists in this country, have a look and see which one is nearest to you. Remember you will have multiple visits so what you might save by going to a clinic some distance away, you will lose by having to take more time off work/college and with travel expenses.

opinion guy

I've never heard of someone who isn't an orthodentist doing braces

davo10

opinion guy wrote: »

I've never heard of someone who isn't an orthodentist doing braces

A huge number of dentists do simple ortho treatments, some do complex ortho as well. Most dentists would refer fixed appliance cases to a qualified orthodontist.

ballsymchugh

opinion guy wrote: »

I've never heard of someone who isn't an orthodentist doing braces

the basic undergraduate degree qualifies you to do braces under general dental council guidelines. the only thing that may effect is what your indemnity provider thinks. some may ask you to do further training, while others don't.

Oral Surgeon

Orthodontist- that's all I have to say about that....!!!!!

btkm8unsl0w5r4

This is cropping up a fair bit and really deserves some explanation.

A General Dentist in Ireland can provide any threatment they feel competant providing so long as it falls under the dental council regulations and dentist act definition of what dentistry is (which interestingly botox and fillers are not). Many dentists provide a wide range of treatments such as simple braces, brand name quick braces, bleaching, crowns, implants, veneers, extractions, gum treatments etc....usually a general dentist can carry out treatment to a high standard and will know when you case is more difficult and send you to somebody else via a referral.

Sometimes General Dentists go do further courses, these can be day courses, week courses or courses over a period of months. Some correspondance courses offer qualifications (letter after the dentists name) these do not give the dentist specialist status but do give the dentist the knowledge to treat more complex cases. Usually these qualification show that the general dentist has a special interest in a area of dentistry, have studied further.

The Specialist dentist will have decided to go back to college and complete a full time masters or higher in their area. This give the dentist specialist status but more importantly a huge level of knowledge and clinical experiance treating cases. You can spot these dentists as they usually only concentrate on one area of dentistry, ie braces but dont do fillings or extractions. They take referrals from other dentists and are on specialist registers. Specialists can treat all patients regardless of complexity.

The matter is further confounded by the anchient specialist registers in Ireland. Only Oral Surgery and orthodontics are recognised as specialities. There are other specialities such as prosthodontists (cosmetic, denture, crowns, implants, bridges), periodontists (gums and placing implants), Peadodontics (children), special needs (treating handicapped patients) and public dental health (health board) who do not have a dedicated register.

So the question is if you need braces who to you go to? If you have a general dentist who says they are able to complete your treatment and you have a good relationship and trust them then thats good. If you want to go straight to the specialist thats good. There is little of no price difference between specialist orthodontists and general dentists. The orthodontist has a certain economy of scale seeing as braces are all they do and can keep price down in this way (buy in bulk, faster at adjusting and fitting braces etc.) also if yor case turn out to be more complex than you first though an orthodontist has the tools and knowledge to change the treatment plan on the fly (impossible with limited objective orthodontics).

At the end of the day the decision is yours. And the waters are muddy out there espically as advertising becomes more widespred. I have maintained on this forum that any patients first port of call should be www.orthodontics.ie lots of good inforation there. I am not an orthodontist and carry out no orthodontic treatment in my clinic.

hg03 eyu

A few general dentists have on their websites the phrase

"special interest in orthodontics"
or
"specialist interest in orthodontics"

This is potentially misleading as it is not the same as a specialist orthodontist
who has done the full three years full time post graduate training in orthodontics.