orthodontist
Americannoun
-
orthodontists
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Explanation
An orthodontist is a type of dentist who specializes in straightening crooked teeth. If you go see an orthodontist, you could walk out with a mouth full of braces! A dentist can fill cavities and encourage you to floss, but an orthodontist can help straighten crooked teeth or misaligned jaws. The word orthodontist comes from the Greek word orthos for “straight, correct” and odon for "tooth." The most common thing an orthodontist does is provide braces for kids and adults. An orthodontist can help if you have a serious tooth or jaw problem or if you just want your teeth to look better.
Vocabulary lists containing orthodontist
Smile
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Body Language: Dent, Dont ("Tooth")
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #15
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I’m a 30-year-old newly graduated orthodontist with substantial student debt, planning to live at home temporarily to pay it off.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2025
He glanced at his 15-year-old, who wants to be an orthodontist, and was listening intently.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
While the 25-year-old made the podium in the fastest Olympic men's 1500m final in history, his dream since 13 has been to qualify as an orthodontist.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2025
He owns a pet tortoise he named Tyrosine after an amino acid, and dreams of being an orthodontist after he retires from racing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2025
There was the orthodontist to see, and I needed new legs made every nine months or so as I outgrew them.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
Multiple dental organizations and orthodontists also caution patients about safety concerns arising from “direct-to-consumer” dentistry.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
But some dentists and orthodontists believe customers of so-called remote dentistry are unaware of harm that can be caused by aligners if not fitted by a dentist in person.
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2023
Lydia Barnfather, representing the GDC, said comments made by Dr Mew, who claims to help "alter the cranial facial structure", on his YouTube channel were "pejorative" about orthodontists.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2022
"But I started to realize that we're not suffering from a lack of good orthodontists or molecular biologists," he said.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2021
He worried that some orthodontists in America were trying to supplant him.
From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2020
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
