Study Orthodontics

What is Orthodontics?

The dental specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of misaligned teeth and irregularities in the jaw area is known as orthodontics. Whilst the stereotype of  orthodontic procedures is that of teenage patients, surprisingly, as many as 30 percent of orthodontic patients are actually adults.  

There are several reasons for performing orthodontic treatments. The main reason is to give patients a pleasant smile and boost their self-esteem. However, having better aligned teeth also allows for clearer speech, easier brushing, and improved oral hygiene.  

Careers in Orthodontics

Becoming an orthodontist is a long road with several paths. The journey begins by completing a four-year bachelor's degree in chemistry, biology or another science-related topic.

Next there’s super competitive dental school to get in to and the DAT exam to pass. A grueling four years of dental school follows but eventually successful graduates earn either a DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine) or a DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery). An orthodontist then studies for a further two years to complete a post-doctoral program in orthodontics.

The main reasons orthodontists and dentists cite in giving them the motivation to keep on studying is helping people. In particular, orthodontists get to help out kids that are being bullied because of their crooked teeth.

In a recent report from The US Bureau of Labor And Statistics 2018 orthodontists are listed as the fifth highest earners in the US healthcare profession--so all that school definitely pays off!

If you’re interested in orthodontics then take a little time to visit the American Association of Orthodontists or you could check out the American Orthodontic Society for loads of helpful information. You can also take a few moments to watch this video which features a day in the life of orthodontist Dr. Stuart. Foster.

Learning Orthodontics

Becoming an orthodontist is a whole lot of school and you'll need to mentally internalize thousands of scientific concepts--and learn a huge amount of medical terminology. Both dentists and orthodontists need to hone their problem-solving skills.

Brainscape doesn’t just have written questions, you’ll find diagnostic scans and physiological diagrams in the questions. You’ll have to think on your feet and research across many medical sub-disciplines to arrive at the best possible solution, for the real life patients detailed in the Brainscape questions.

Consequently, Brainscape makes an ideal supplementary tool for orthodontist students. You’ll efficiently build a strong foundation of medical knowledge leaving you to concentrate on delivering clinical excellence.  

Orthodontics in Brainscape

There are thousands of Brainscape flashcards prepared by top dentistry professors and students available for orthodontist students to use for free. You’ll find that Brainscape has a heap of other helpful pages too such as microbiology, pathology, anatomy, physiology, radiography, anesthesia, biomedical science, histology, clinical medicine, pharmacology, and surgery.

Dentistry is super competitive so you’ll need high scores in science subjects as well as math in high school. To give you the edge make sure you use the best available AP Math, AP Biology, and AP Chemistry study guides on the market. There are also a number of flashcard decks produced by top students to prepare you for the all-important DAT exam to get into dental school.

Why not use the Brainscape software to make flashcards with your own coursework? You can choose to share your flashcards with the Brainscape community or keep them for your personal use.

Learn faster with Brainscape

Dental students along with medical students face some of the toughest learning challenges on the planet. That's why you need the most powerful learning engine on the planet to tackle your study load!

Brainscape’s unchallenged learning system is revolutionizing the way people learn. Studying with Brainscape means you’ll learn twice as fast and remember longer. When you got into dental school, they were after an all-round candidate, with extra-curricular activities, right? But there seems little time for anything but study as soon as you enroll in dental school. With Brainscape, you’ll better be able to manage your study schedules--as you stop grappling with long-form study guides, videos, and time-wasting reading materials--and finally find some all-important downtime.

The Brainscape system: Confidence-Based Repetition (or CBR) consists of three scientifically proven learning methods. This supercharged combination of active recall, spaced repetition, and metacognition makes CBR the most powerful education tool on the market. Furthermore, Brainscape is unique in focusing on highly academic content, ideal even for post-doctoral study.

The first learning method the CBR system incorporates is active recall. This is the process whereby information is retrieved (rather than simply recognizing it), and during the process, the neurons are fired-up and given a workout. Consequently, the next time you attempt to recall the same piece of information the neural pathways are strong and the information is easy to retrieve.

Next in the CBR system armor comes spaced repetition which hundreds of studies, dating back to the 1930’s, have recorded as an effective learning method. The flashcard format of Brainscape perfectly mimics this learning method of taking in bite-sized pieces of information at spaced intervals.

What makes Brainscape stand out from the crowd is the third learning method of metacognition used in the CBR system. Unlike other computer-aided learning tools, the algorithm is fueled by the individual learner’s metacognitive responses.

The Brainscape CBR system offers a flawless delivery for users which cleverly incorporates its cognitive scientific methods.

Succeeding each answer being revealed in Brainscape, you’ll spend a second to consider how well you knew that answer on a scale from 1-5. Now, instead of the flashcard placement being random, the algorithm computes the exact best position for that flashcard in the deck. Perhaps, you rate a flashcard as a “2”, the algorithm will show this card again shortly until you start leaving a higher rating.

All the while, the algorithm is freeing up your time to drill down on this flashcard as it has not shown the note cards you rated as “4”and “5” so frequently. It’s this revolutionary technique that makes learning twice as fast as possible.

Thousands of dentists and orthodontists credit Brainscape to being key to their success academically, so learn how to get started today!

How to get started

Ready to take this turbo-charged learning engine for a test drive?

You’ll find you can browse most flashcards for free. If you take a look below you’ll see decks from Malocclusion to Material Properties. Simply choose a deck from below and see just how effective and fun Brainscape is to use.  

If you have your own content you’d like to bring to Brainscape then get started curating your own interactive learning catalog today. Just click on “make flashcards” at the top of the page and become a valued contributor.

Brainscape is excited about giving students the best educational tools to achieve their professional goals. The Brainscape team wishes you all the best in your Orthodontics studies and career.