Simply put, Orthodontists are dentists that specialize in straightening and proper alignment of teeth - they give you that perfect straight smile that everybody wants. AAO (American Association of Orthodontists) provides you with basic information about orthodontics. They give you information on why people go to orthodontics and why they get treatment.
This video discusses a typical day at work, the qualifications needed for the job, the best and worst parts of the job, and advice for future students. After the four years of college and then four years of dental school, orthodontists are required to apply to a orthodontic training residency program - which is a two or three year specialty program. Upon completion of proper schooling, your are required to take a standardized orthodontics board exam get your license to practice Orthodontics in your state of choosing.
As an orthodontists, you will spend most of your time evaluating patients and working with braces and retainers (whether its setting them up, adjusting them, or taking them off). The orthodontic work, however, makes up a fraction of the work for most orthodontists, seeing as how most own their own private business. If you open your own office, you are responsible for the orthodontic work as well as all the business work if you want to establish and keep running a successful practice.
Dr. Ed Shehee, the owner and orhtodontist and Shehee Family Orthodontics, does a great job in describing what an orthodontist does and what their lifestyles are like on a daily basis. He describes the career as fun, calm, and rewarding. For him, orthodontics is a career that helps people have a more positive lifestyle. In his view, it is a great career to have because it is a "quality of life" medical career - "nobody dies from having crooked teeth".
Malocclusions, or "bad bites", are any type of misalignment of the teeth and make up a big part of the work that dentists do in an office. These images here show some of the issues that people go to orthodontists for; it is the orthodontists job to turn these teeth into the pearly whites the patient wants. These orthodontists work in repairing these malocclusions so people get that desired perfect white smile. Click here, or on the image above, to see the list of malocclusions. These images will give you a good idea of what you will be dealing with, as an orthodontist, on a daily basis.
This video gives you a great visual description of an orthodontists typical day at work. You see what they do on a daily basis, how well they interact with their patients, and are given some background info on what you need to be a good orthodontist. They are trained to give shots, perform oral surgery, and prescribe medication.
This video does a great job at showing you the most crucial part of begin an orthodontist, putting on braces. Since it is their job to apply braces to straighten teeth, it is a good idea to know what a sample procedure is like if you are to consider a career in orthodontics. This is a great video, it shows you (up close) what the orthodontist is doing and provides annotations, explaining the procedure to you.