If you think orthodontist and dentist both are same, then you are totally wrong. Their professions have definitely have some similarities but you should know the fact that orthodontia is a specific dental care. Dentists and orthodontists both help to improve your overall oral care but their ways are different. In short, Orthodontist is the medical professional who trained to prevent, diagnose and treat the dental and facial problems. Orthodontists can offer you so many treatments in order to straighten your crooked teeth, align the jaw perfectly and fix the bad bites as well.
What is an orthodontist?
You may hear the fact that doctors choose the specialized field in order to treat better and concentrated way. The doctors select the specialized fields such as cardiology, neurology, gynecology and all. In the same way, dentists can also select and go for specialization. Orthodontist is the specialized profession and it aims to prevent, diagnose and fix the dental and facial issues.
Orthodontists are fully qualified dentists. They embark on further three years’ specialty course after completing their regular dental course. They are a branch of dentists who can treat malocclusion, a condition of the mouth. In this condition, the teeth are not properly positioned while the mouth is closed. For this, improper bite will happen. An orthodontist specializes in order to make the teeth straight.
Definition of orthodontist:
They focus the areas such as jaws, mouth, teeth, gums and nerves as well. Orthodontists are actually working on the specialized section of the field. You will have to know the fact that all orthodontists are dentists but not all dentists are orthodontists. They can diagnose the problems such as overbites, occlusions, under bites, open bites, cross bites and all other problems. They are one kind of dentist who can handle these kinds of dental and facial irregularities.
What does an orthodontist do?
Orthodontists are specialized dentists and they are experts in correcting the misalignment of teeth and jaw. Apart from this, there are so many problems related to misalignments. It can cause speech defects, lack of confidence, difficulties in chewing, problem in maintaining the oral hygiene as well. Here are some common problems that an orthodontist can solve:
Overcrowding: It is one of the main problems that an orthodontist can treat. They can do the realignment of the teeth by using a number of unobtrusive devices and treatments.
Aesthetic issues: In this particular case, the shape of the face is being affected by the problem of bad bite or malocclusion. The specialist can restructure and reshape the jaw, teeth and make the perfect alignment as well.
Anteroposterior deviations: The common example of this problem is under bite or overbite. Both these problems can cause many difficulties such as chewing, articulating and all.
Difference between dentist and orthodontist:
It is true that they both share many similarities and they can also work together in order to help you to improve your overall oral health and maintain the oral hygiene as well. But they both work in different ways. The orthodontist is a dental specialist who can focus only to straighten the teeth and align the jaw. Let’s see the differences in between them:
Dentists:
- A general dentist is much like a family physician doctor. They are skilled in general practices.
- They have the general dental degree.
- They are expert in dental care and maintain the dental problems of all ages.
- They can perform the cosmetic dental procedures such as crowning, whitening and all.
- For special sphere of treatment, they refer the patients to the orthodontists.
Orthodontists:
- They are registered and qualified dental practitioners. They complete the special three years course in order to train the facial growth, alignments, development of teeth and structure of jaw as well.
- They are experts in diagnosing the facial growth problems and treat the crooked teeth, poor aligned jaw and all.
- They are expert in order to take care of the problems for children, adults and teens as well.
Now, you know the basic differences between these two. So, if you need the special orthodontic care, then you should go to the specialist. They can give you a well-balanced treatment that you require. After proper treatment, you can get back your confidence and solve your dental or facial irregularities.