Can a Dentist Be an Orthodontist? Understanding the Key Differences and Specialization

Table of Contents

• Education: How I Started
• Scope of Practice

• Education and Training: Going Beyond
• Scope of Practice and Focus

• Education and Training
• Scope and Types of Cases

• Continuing Education and Limitations
• Recognizing When Referral Matters

• Specialized Expertise
• Optimized Outcomes
• Risk Mitigation

Introduction: The Common Question

I’ve lost track of how many times people have asked me if their usual dentist can put on their braces or if they can be called an orthodontist. Maybe you have wondered the same thing. We trust our dentists for everything from cleanings to fillings, so why not braces too, right? Here’s the quick answer: Every orthodontist is a dentist, but not every dentist is an orthodontist.

Knowing this difference isn’t just about choosing the right label. It actually changes the way you take care of your teeth and how good your smile turns out. Using examples from my time working as both a general dentist and an orthodontist, I’ll show you the real differences, tell you my stories, and help you figure out who you need for a straight smile.

The Foundation: What is a General Dentist?

I remember my first few years out of dental school. My days were packed with check-ups, fillings, and lots of different patients—all seeing me as their main dental person. This “general dentist” job is kind of the main thing for most people when it comes to keeping teeth healthy.

Education: How I Started

It takes hard work to become a general dentist. I spent four years in college, then four more in dental school. You might get a DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) or a DMD (Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry), but the classes are mostly the same. We all learn the basics, like anatomy and diseases of the mouth.

Both degrees let you do the most common work for keeping teeth healthy and fixing problems. It’s a bit like how a family doctor learns to treat most medical issues before choosing to become a specialist.

Scope of Practice

General dentists are kind of like the Swiss Army knives of the dental world. Here’s what I can do as a general dentist:

• Prevention: Cleanings, X-rays, sealants, and fluoride.
• Fixing Teeth: Fillings and crowns (sometimes using help from a crown and bridge lab), and repairing or replacing broken or hurting teeth.
• Extractions and Root Canals: Taking out bad teeth or saving infected ones.
• Making Teeth Look Better: Whitening, veneers, and doing simple teeth straightening with some clear aligners.
• Check-ups and Problem-Spotting: Looking for gum problems, signs of oral cancer, and catching things early.

General dentists handle a lot of things, so for most people, we’re the ones you see the most.

The Specialization: What is an Orthodontist?

If general dentists do a lot of different things, orthodontists focus on one thing: lining up your teeth and jaws. I got interested in orthodontics because I liked figuring out how people’s bites worked—and honestly, making a big difference in someone’s smile is really rewarding.

Education and Training: Going Beyond

All orthodontists, including me, start as dentists. But after dental school, I had to get into a tough orthodontic program. These are full-time, hard two- to three-year programs where you spend nearly all your time on braces, how teeth move, and how faces grow.

You stop fixing regular dental problems and instead learn about:

• Malocclusion: Why teeth and jaws don’t fit right.
• Facial Growth: How your bones grow and affect your chewing and looks.
• How Teeth Move: How to move teeth safely and on purpose.
• Braces and Appliances: All kinds of braces, and how clear aligners like Invisalign work.

The orthodontic program is hard work and very hands-on. I worked with lots of cases, from a little crookedness to really tough jaw problems.

Scope of Practice and Focus

Orthodontists look for, stop, and treat teeth and jaw alignment problems. We:

• Make plans for fixing crooked or spaced teeth.
• Fix overbites, underbites, crossbites, and jaw problems.
• Tell people which braces or aligners to use, and check how things are going.
• Work with surgeons for patients who need jaw surgery.

If you think of dental care as a pyramid, orthodontists are up at the top when it comes to straightening and moving teeth and jaws.

Key Differences: General Dentist vs. Orthodontist

Working in both jobs showed me that job titles aren’t the whole story. The real difference is in schooling, extra learning, and what each does all day.

Education and Training

Here’s how the education looks:

• General Dentist: 4 years of college + 4 years of dental school = 8 years (another 1 year if you do a regular residency, but not everyone does)
• Orthodontist: All that plus 2–3 years of orthodontic residency (so, 10-11 years in all)

I thought I knew a lot coming out of dental school, but those extra years in an orthodontic program taught me things I never imagined.

Scope and Types of Cases

General Dentists:

• Work mostly on everyday dental health.
• Prevent and fix common problems, and can help with simple straightening (especially with clear aligners after taking special classes and working with a digital dental lab).
• For tough cases, they send you to a specialist.

Orthodontists:

• Only work on fixing crooked teeth, weird bites, and jaw problems.
• Fix both easy and really hard cases, sometimes by working with other dental pros.

It’s like a family doctor compared to a heart surgeon. They both know medicine, but sometimes you really need a specialist.

Can a General Dentist Perform Orthodontic Procedures? (The Nuance)

This is where it often gets confusing—and where what I learned matters a lot.

Continuing Education and Limitations

Dentists often take extra classes to learn about orthodontics. I took some myself—certifications for clear aligner systems, in-person classes, learning online—all to help my patients.

But, even with extra classes, most general dentists (me included, before I did orthodontics) can:

• Do simple straightening with clear aligners (just fixing mild crowding or spacing).
• Offer short fixes, mostly for adults who want simple changes.
• Work with a dental lab for retainers to help keep teeth straight after things are fixed.

The real trouble comes if someone needs a lot more—like real crowding, big overbites that make chewing hard, or jaw problems that need teamwork to fix. My general rule is to send those patients to an orthodontist. It’s not just about being humble—it’s about what’s safest for the person in the chair.

Recognizing When Referral Matters

A really good general dentist knows their own limits. I learned early that trying to do everything isn’t always the best for the patient. For bigger or trickier alignment problems, the training an orthodontist gets in their extra years is super important.

So, sure, a dentist can do some orthodontic work, but only an orthodontist has the right training for tough or risky cases.

Why Choose an Orthodontist for Orthodontic Treatment?

Let’s be honest: orthodontic work isn’t cheap, fast, or simple. Here’s why, from what I’ve seen, going to a specialist is a really good idea, at least for most folks.

Specialized Expertise

Orthodontists spend their whole working life learning how teeth move and how jaws grow. The gap between “kind of trained” and “really expert” can mean the difference between a smile that looks good right now and one that lasts for years.

If I see someone with lots of crowding or jaw problems, my extra years of training help me spot trouble way before it gets expensive or painful.

Optimized Outcomes

Orthodontists expect things to get tricky—that’s just part of the job. That means we’re better at planning, dealing with surprises, and getting better results, on time, that last.

We use special tools and tech, like 3D X-rays or super-accurate aligner systems, and this helps with better results too.

Risk Mitigation

Not everything goes smoothly. Teeth sometimes move the wrong way, roots might wear down, and jaw pain can show up. With more experience and know-how, orthodontists can see, stop, or fix these problems before they get bad. It really gives patients peace of mind.

When to See Whom: A Practical Guide

I’ve made a cheat sheet over the years, so maybe it will help you too.

• See a General Dentist for: Check-ups, cleanings, cavities, fillings, crowns, most normal dental issues, simple cosmetic fixes, referrals.
• See an Orthodontist for: Crooked, spaced out, or twisted teeth; overbites, underbites, crossbites; jaw pain that’s because of your bite or jaw growth; tough crowding or if you want your whole bite fixed.

If you just want clean teeth or need a repair, your general dentist (sometimes using a china dental lab for special teeth work) is your go-to person. But if you mostly worry about crooked teeth or jaw problems, try starting with an orthodontist first.

Relevant Data and Comparative Table

When people ask me for the real numbers, I show them something like this:

Looking at this, you can see why most people are better off seeing an orthodontist for bite and jaw problems.

Making an Informed Choice: My Takeaway

If you remember one thing from my story, let it be this: orthodontists are always dentists first, but then they go further, learning as much as possible about moving teeth and jaws, and only doing that type of work every day.

I’ll never look down on dentists who keep learning new things. But I’ve seen how sending a patient to a specialist, or starting with one from the beginning, has saved people time, money, and worry. Trust is important, and so is what your provider is trained to do.

Before you start treatment, ask your dentist what their training is. If a general dentist is offering braces or aligners, ask about their past experience and if they send difficult cases to a specialist. And always remember: you don’t want to risk your health just for a good-looking smile.

Go with your biggest worries, but also trust your provider’s honesty about what they can do best. That’s the right way to get great dental care, if you ask me.

If you’d like to learn more about how dentists work with labs for braces, aligners, or retainers, check out: digital dental lab, dental lab for retainers, and veneer lab. These give a look at how teamwork helps create great dental and orthodontic results.

Short version: Not all dentists are orthodontists, but every orthodontist was a dentist before—then went even further. For everyday care, your general dentist is the one to see. For bite or jaw straightening, a specialist’s help makes all the difference. That’s not just my opinion—it’s what I’ve seen with real patients, over and over.