Global guidelines for education and their impact on the orthodontics profession through the years

Orthodontic specialty training passed through different phases before it progressed to its today's high standards in content, format, duration, and accreditation. Specialty training, postgraduate and graduate education, accreditation of programs, and recognition of the orthodontic specialty used to be significantly different in the past among countries and regions. However, during the last 30 years a clear tendency for harmonization and uniformity is obvious. The aim of this article is to briefly outline the evolution of the orthodontic specialty training characteristics in different parts of the world and relate them with the recognition, through the years, of the orthodontist as a dental specialist professional.

An advanced dental education program in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics requires an extensive and comprehensive evidence-based experience, which must be representative of the current didactic and technical changes and advancements in the orthodontic specialty. The wheel should not be reinvented in any country or university in which specialty education is initiated. Excellent standards, accumulated experience, and rich knowledge of postgraduate education are available from different parts of the world, and these must be utilized.