Board certified vs. board eligible?

[klilacdds]

I am shadowing my dentist, and he does ortho, pediatrics as well as a little oral sudery (he sends major work out). I was told that if I specialize in ortho I won't be able to do root canals or extractions. If I specialize in oral surgery I can only do oral surgery, etc, and that the way he gets around it is by being board eligible but not certified, in that he did not take the certification test but that he is eligible to. I am confused because I have never heard of this before. Can someone explain?😕

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[charlestweed]

I am a board eligible orthodontist. There are only about 5-10 percent of all orthodontists who are actually board certified.

To be BOARD ELIGIBLE, you must complete 2 or 3 years of ortho. training in an accredited program. After that, you take a written board exam. If you pass the exam, you are board eligible. This means that you are eligible to take the board ceritified exam, which I will mention in the next paragraph.

To be BOARD CERTIFIED, you have to complete the above step. You must then present 10 orthodontic cases that you treated (not somebody else's cases)in front of the board panel. If you pass, you are board certified or you become an ABO diplomate. So all board certified orthodontists ususally have 5-10 year working experience in order to collect these 10 clinical cases. For more info., visit americanboardortho.com

Most orthodontists and I, myself, don't really care about being eligible nor certified. As long as you earn the orthodontic certificate from a 2 or 3 year accredited ortho. program, you can practice orthodontics and can call yourself orthodontist. However, if you are applying for a director job at ortho. school you must be board certified.

Now, in California, any licensed dentist can do ortho. treatment if he or she knows how. The same is true for orthodontist. As an orthodontist, I can do ortho. plus all other tasks (endo., perio, oral surgery, fillings). There is no restriction what so ever. However, all orthodontists don't do general dentistry stuffs because we don't want to compete against our general dentist friends. Remember, we, specialists need general dentists' referrals to survive. So I usually send my patients back to their dentists for ortho. extractions and fillings. Also, it is more fun to do ortho....why would I want to do something else? Hope this helps.🙂

PS: I've just found out that the ABO has reduced the number clinical cases to 6 (from 10). It appears that there are less and less orthodontists applying for ABO certified exam so the board tries to make it easier. Sadly, no ortho out there care.... they are too busy playing golf.

 

[ItsGavinC]

For pedo the process is very simliar to ortho. The ABPD has recently stopped using the term "board eligible," however.

They now use the term "board candidate." A 'Candidate' is a dentist who has graduated from an accredited ADA/CODA or CDA/CDAC pediatric dentistry training program and has begun the process for board certification (i.e. has submitted an application to take the Qualifying Examination).

A 'Diplomate' is a pediatric dentist who has successfully completed the certification process and has been granted certified status by the ABPD.

To become a board diplomate, the dentist must take and pass a written qualifying exam, which then allows them to submit for an oral clinical exam.

 

[rrc]

the way he gets around it is by being board eligible but not certified, in that he did not take the certification test but that he is eligible to.

In oral surgery, in order to be board eligible, you HAVE to complete a 4 or 6 year accredited residency program. There is no GP in the entire country who is board eligible if they have not done an oral surgery residency at some point.

A GP who says they are board eligible is completely incorrect.

To be board certified, you have to pass the written and oral ABOMS exams.

 

[SNOZBERRIES]

So I usually send my patients back to their dentists for ortho. extractions and fillings. Also, it is more fun to do ortho....why would I want to do something else? Hope this helps.🙂[/quote]


If you are an orthodontist, why would you send a patient back to their genral dentist for ortho?

 

[capisce?]

So I usually send my patients back to their dentists for ortho. extractions and fillings. Also, it is more fun to do ortho....why would I want to do something else? Hope this helps.🙂


If you are an orthodontist, why would you send a patient back to their genral dentist for ortho?

ortho extractions meaning those necessary before ortho tx is started (ie...serial exts, etc) or ortho restorations pertaining to those needing treatment prior to ortho tx commmencing.

 

[gryffindor]

He probably meant orthodontic extractions such as when the patient needs some teeth extracted in order to have orthodontics.

 

[charlestweed]

So I usually send my patients back to their dentists for ortho. extractions and fillings. Also, it is more fun to do ortho....why would I want to do something else? Hope this helps.🙂

If you are an orthodontist, why would you send a patient back to their genral dentist for ortho?[/quote]




I refer my patients back to their general dentist for orthodontic extraction. Some patients need to have either their 1st or 2nd bicuspids removed for ortho. treatment. For a difficult extraction (ie curved root bicuspid, 3rd molars), I don't just refer patient to oral surgeon directly but I first have to ask the general dentist's permission to do so since some skillful general dentists can perform surgical extraction. 🙂

PS: Sorry for re-explaining... I didn't read Caspice's and Gryffinder's posts when I wrote this. Both explained it perfectly.

 

[SNOZBERRIES]

my bad. sometimes i forget the difference between a period and a comma.

 

[ItsGavinC]

In oral surgery, in order to be board eligible, you HAVE to complete a 4 or 6 year accredited residency program.

That goes for every specialty, I believe. You have to graduate from an accredited program to even be "eligible," so there a board-eligible GP doesn't exist for any specialty.