An Overview of the American Board of Orthodontics Certification Process

Abstract

The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) was founded nearly ninety years ago as the first American specialty board in the field of dentistry. The ABO, in affiliation with the American Association of Orthodontists, is, in fact, the only orthodontic specialty board that is recognized by the American Dental Association. In order to become board-certified by the ABO, an orthodontist must successfully pass a written examination as well as a clinical examination. Important to the clinical exam is the ability to measure case complexity and case outcome. To this end, the ABO has established a comprehensive Discrepancy Index (DI) system which systematically analyzes and scores every element of the selected case and its difficulty, thereby measuring case complexity. Similarly, the ABO has established a comprehensive Cast-Radiograph (CR) evaluation which systematically analyzes every element of the selected case and its finished occlusion, thereby measuring case outcome. This review article presents an overview of the ABO certification process and reviews a classic high-angle Class II growing patient case that successfully passed the ABO exam. This article further presents a walkthrough of how to complete the DI and CR evaluation using the high-angle Class II growing patient case as an example. By establishing the DI form and CR evaluation and by making this information available to the public, the ABO strives to be both objective and transparent in allowing orthodontists to self-assess their finished cases.