orthodontist
Americannoun
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
In her new book, she further relates that Cheever wrote the story reluctantly and in a hurry to pay her orthodontist, “a Tarrytown guy who had his eye on a larger house.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
When the orthodontist informed me I would have to replace my veneers in 15 to 20 years, I shrugged his words off, figuring that adult me would have no problems with money.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2024
I’m sitting across from an orthodontist, sipping a lukewarm coffee and gliding through typical first-date banter about L.A. traffic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2024
“You just explained to me that you were at an orthodontist appointment.”
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
Multiple dental organizations and orthodontists also caution patients about safety concerns arising from “direct-to-consumer” dentistry.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
In traditional dentistry, train-track braces and clear aligners are fitted by dentists and orthodontists themselves, or a trained orthodontic therapist, after an in-person consultation.
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
Where traditional orthodontists focus most of their efforts on straightening teeth, Mew says his aim is to “save the face.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2020
Definitions 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.
