Dentistry as a medical specialty is broad and it deals with different sections of oral and dental health. Many of us use the term dentist and orthodontist interchangeably but they are more dissimilar than they are similar. Orthodontia is a different field of dental care.
A dentist is a doctor whose area of expertise includes the jaw, teeth, gums, mouth and nerves associated with it and its affordable in orange county. Orthodontists are a more specialized section of dentists who work in a specific field. Their area of work includes straightening of teeth or treatment that is corrective in nature. So in a way, it can be said that all orthodontists are dentists but all dentists are not orthodontists. Orthodontists are experts in the diagnosing of overcrowded mouths, teeth and jaws that are misaligned, occlusions and overbites. These conditions if left untreated grow worse over time and become extremely painful for a patient.
The most important function of an orthodontist is to recognize and rectify issues related to teeth and mouth. The gap between the teeth, also known in medical terminology as diastema, grows larger over time. Owing to the functions of our mouth, it needs a tight structure to function well, misalignment causes it to suffer. An orthodontist has several appliances to treat these disorders. Braces are the most traditional of these appliances and perhaps the most famous. If the patient is skeptical about braces an invisible aligner known as Invisalign is suggested by orthodontists. By design it is invisible from a distance. In extreme cases, the orthodontist treats his/her patient with a palate expander. Its function is to widen the upper jaw, giving the area more space. Headgear is another slightly more dramatic possibility for correcting misaligned teeth.
An orthodontist must finish medical school first, which is generally a four to five year curriculum. Then the specialization over this discipline of dentistry takes another two years. In this phase an orthodontist takes an extensive university-based study of all the existent cases which graduates them to being a clinician. Many of them start practicing their trade from this point on, but some go for further specialization. So it is safe to say that orthodontists are dentists with double the training specifically in the area of corrective therapy. This kind of treatment is moderately costly. But there are certain things that an orthodontists will not disclose unless asked and one must be pragmatic about these factors. First among them is that the braces being fitted may have been previously used by someone else. The duration of the treatment can last longer than the orthodontist estimates it to be. And last but not the least, the fee that an orthodontist charges is certainly negotiable to a limit.