What are Pseudo orthodontists or Fake orthodontists ?
Pseudo orthodontists are practicing dentist who don’t have any legitimate M.D.S degree in orthodontics but practice orthodontics.
What are the dangers posed by such practitioners ?
As the field of orthodontia highly technique sensitive, vast and divergent it needs high degree of skill and knowledge to predict and plan a orthodontic treatment for patients. Every next orthodontic case is different and unique and thus require intricate planning and experience which can only be gained by specialize training as in M.D.S program. Due to this lack of knowledge a general dental practitioner can cause severe short term and long term complications while trying to do orthodontics.
What may be the complications caused by fake orthodontists ?
There may be numerous complications of such kind of treatment they may be short term or long term relevance.
Short Term Complications :
Improper planning may lead to excessive discomfort at the initial stages of treatment. As most of such practitioners use lower grade materials thus even more chances of discomfort. Low quality braces and wires can deliver either excessive or very less forces on teeth which can either make the tooth very mobile or show no result at all. In many cases it causes loss of tooth or teeth.
As such practitioners lack planning ability thus the treatment can take longer than usual thus even more forces on teeth thus more chances of teeth loss.
Many orthodontic conditions in growing age are self correcting thus in fact may require no treatment at all but as fake orthodontist practice with financial prospect in mind may result in unnecessary treatment.
Long Term Complications :
Due to improper planning and very long treatment can lead to excessive forces on teeth can cause resorption or wearing of the roots of the teeth. Improper occlusion or setup of teeth can cause problem in the jaw joint and related pain.
How can i know the legitimacy of the practitioner ?
Legitimacy of an orthodontist can be known simply by asking your dentist about their specialization, against common thinking asking a dentist his/her speciality is not rude, unethical or unsocial. Patient has all the right to know his dentist.
Patient can also observe the degree of a dentist which is usually depicted on display which may be the Dental Council of India Registration or His/Her Post Graduation Certificate. Also the dentists degree is depicted on the clinic board.
Other simple method may be just Googling or a simple facebook search. All orthodontists are generally member of Indian Orthodontic Society where a similar search can be performed.
Kindly know that there is no parallel or equivalent post graduation course in the field of orthodontics in india.