A dentist and an orthodontist both care for oral health, but their roles and areas of expertise are different.
A Dentist provides general dental care for patients of all ages. This includes routine checkups, teeth cleaning, fillings, root canal treatments, crowns, bridges, gum care, and overall maintenance of oral hygiene. Dentists focus on preventing, diagnosing, and treating common dental problems to maintain healthy teeth and gums.
An Orthodontist, on the other hand, is a dental specialist who has completed additional training after dental school. Orthodontists focus specifically on correcting misaligned teeth and jaws. They treat issues such as crooked teeth, gaps, overbites, underbites, and crossbites using braces, aligners, retainers, and other orthodontic appliances.
General dentists manage overall dental health, while orthodontists provide specialized care for alignment and bite correction. Both play important roles, but orthodontic treatment is usually done only after a referral or diagnosis by a dentist.