Austin Henry
Mrs. Pearce/ Pre-Ap English II
Research Paper
May 6, 2016
Hide Today and Smile Tomorrow
As George Sam of the U.S. National Library of Medicine wrote, “[The] majority of the students who had chosen orthodontics as their future specialty of choice at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Dental College, Saudi Arabia had taken up this specialty because they felt that orthodontics was intellectually challenging.” The field of orthodontics is a challenging yet a superior career. From the simplest monthly check up to the most complex case of misalignment; an orthodontist loves his job and his daily work. An orthodontist has the opportunity to make a once shy child stuck in his shell come out of his shell to embrace the world for a better tomorrow. To even consider becoming an orthodontist, one must be in the top five percent of his class at dentistry school; making the highest grades and practicing in the lab during his free time. An orthodontist goes the extra mile in what he does for the best results. Now having a better understanding of the world of dentistry and orthodontic; knowing what it takes to become an orthodontist in preparation of being in the field of orthodontics, orthodontics as a career choice in the many career options possible to me and how exploring this topic taught me the daily work of an orthodontist as well as general information of an orthodontist, and finally, how orthodontists helps the world and how each person is outshined by the finishing results after visiting the orthodontist in comparison to their first visit.
Ten to twelve years of schooling is required to becoming an orthodontist. Before an orthodontist is considered an orthodontist, he or she must obtain a bachelor’s degree from their university or college of choice with a degree of their choice, but taking courses in science is strongly recommended because of prerequisites (Applying for Dental School). Also, all orthodontists should gain experience in business owning and take classes of this subject in college because he may want to open his own practice in the future; business classes are not offered at dentistry school. Then, the graduate must attend a dentistry school; these are the three to choose from in Texas: The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston, Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry [at Dallas], and finally, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The first two years of dental school is known to be fast, restless, and furious between lectures, long classes, and “free time” in the lab and also preparing and taking the first half of National Board Dental Examination; then the last two years of dental school seem to slow down with less classes and fewer lectures, but speed up with the time in the dental clinic treating patients under the supervision of a professor, and also preparing and taking the other half of the National Board Dental Examination (American Dental Association). Furthermore to becoming an orthodontist, a dental school graduate in the top five percent of his class can apply as an intern at an orthodontics practice of his choice. An internship as an orthodontist can vary between two to four years of gaining the ideal skills needed to become an orthodontist, but as Bruce Donoff states, “Although many look at the report as a call to make dental education 3 years rather than 4, it was the quality, not the time, which was important to [him].” Those few years as an intern are crucial to the next 40 years of an orthodontists life. It’s the foundation of all known experience, and as I said earlier, a dentist can choose any of the thousands of possible orthodontics offices, but choosing the one that he will learn from, he will gain experience from with the best knowledge is the one where he should decide upon. The pathway to becoming an orthodontist is stressful, complicated, and has a very demanding work load, but at the end of the difficult journey, the next several years of an orthodontist is used to help others; not only to have straight teeth, but to give them the opportunity to outshine and completely change the way they look at the world with a better smile.
For that one year, every six weeks I would visit Dr. Spencer’s office down on Fourth Street. I enjoyed going to the orthodontist. At the time, I didn’t know why I liked it so much, but as I grew older, I understood why I appreciated going so much. While not everybody enjoys visiting their orthodontist, “dentistry [including orthodontics] is one of the ten most trusted and ethical professions in America” (Explore the Dental Profession). Of course, I would trust my orthodontist; he put a bracket of metal in my mouth that I couldn’t remove without him removing it from my mouth. Within this research, I discovered how interesting the daily life of an orthodontist really is. Yes, orthodontists do make a lot of money, roughly Texas orthodontists make up to $196,000 per year, but aside from that, orthodontics really seems like an interesting career choice. Seeing patients visit after visit, loosening and tightening braces, making molds, and just enjoying life as an orthodontist seemed perfect to me. According to Dr. Guymon of Myron D. Guymon Orthodontics, Dr. Guymon usually begins his day examining x-rays and studying patients’ charts to understand the most possible for the best results. He discusses with his team the daily schedule just before his first patient walks through the doors; then the busy day begins. Throughout the day, an orthodontist will visit new patients, returning patients, and rarely but possible, work emergency cases. As well as dentistry being a trusted career, dentistry is an in-demand profession that will always be needed in American culture; not only for that perfect smile, but also to improve self hygiene and word pronunciation by correcting: an overbite/underbite that causes jaw pain or discomfort and low self-esteem issues, an open bite caused by thumb-sucking that has awkward teeth placement and making it difficult to talk and chew, finally, excessive teeth spacing where most people with this issue sound like they have a slight lisp (Explore the Dental Profession and Dr. Spencer of Spencer Orthodontics). As of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job opportunity of an orthodontist will increase sixteen percent by 2022. This number is increasing not only by the interest orthodontics brings, but also an increase of people needing basic and also advanced dental services as stated earlier . The opportunity of this growth allows me to have a definite job with the several years of schooling I have to go through and finally finished by 2029. The daily life of an orthodontist is exciting, enthusiastic, and very eventful with the new and old patients, the molding, the checking of each patients that walks through the door, and the constant fast pace being an orthodontist brings (Myron D. Guymon).
An orthodontist isn’t just a man living in a nice house, in nice clothes with a nice wife, no, he is much more. When people think about an orthodontist, they mostly think of the money he makes and how expensive his help is, but think of the end result of a smile that’s out of this world. The schooling it takes, the career, and the aftereffect of helping people amazes me and orthodontics is seriously a career I am seriously interested in. The learning doesn’t stop when he graduates residency. An orthodontists spends his lifetime learning new techniques, new skills, and often new equipment to better his patients. In order for an orthodontist to fully become his highest potential with challenges, he has to learn even after his schooling if finished.
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