Most orthodontists are members of the Australian Dental Association and so from time to time attend meetings related to this society. Most orthodontists are also members of the Australian Society of Orthodontists (ASO) and to be a member of the ASO you have to be able to be a dental board registered orthodontist which means a specialist in dentistry. You also have to have qualifications normally involving two years at least of full time study after completing a general dental degree which in itself is normally five years. You might wonder why you'd bother being a member of two different organisations.

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The two organisations..

The Australian Dental Association deals with things to do with teeth in general and the dental profession as a whole. The orthodontic society focuses on issues related to orthodontists but in particular is also an education provider. In the middle of last year it became a formal requirement that all dental practitioners maintain ongoing education and document this with the Dental Board of Australia which is also a new entity.

The ASO organises a conference every two years and a meeting of its foundation in the in-between years. This acts not only to foster the relationships within the profession but importantly allows a suitable method of keeping up to date and maintaining the ongoing education requirements. The ASO provides a valuable community function in the Give A Smile program where orthodontists volunteer to treat one case normally from government waiting lists each year. The case is selected by volunteers who allocate the cases. This is a program we proudly support at Ocean Orthodontics. Amongst other things the ASO also has a foundation which supports orthodontic research across Australia at the various universities.

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At Ocean Orthodontics our entire team keeps learning..

Across the rest of the practice there is other ongoing education. At the congress every two years we take the Ocean Orthodontics team, as there is an auxiliary program specialising in developing special skills for staff members. Beyond all of this of course we have team meetings and training in the various procedures and processes we do from day to day. These training processes from macro to micro occur across all dental practices and are some of the things that are happening "behind the scenes" to make Ocean Orthodontics at its best.

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Benefits of being affiliated with the two dental organisations..

People occasionally change jobs or need to move overseas or interstate whilst in treatment. In Australia parents are often at a loss about what to do about finding another orthodontist. Normally we are able to recommend a replacement, but sometimes we aren't familiar with the area they are relocating to. In this situation we normally recommend going online either to the Dental Board of Australia to look up registered orthodontists or to the ASO website where there is a "find an orthodontist function". This is a bit of a shortcut because it means you can not only be certain they are an orthodontist but also that they have a degree in orthodontics which has been scrutinised by the society, and as such agree to abide by the rules of the orthodontic society and the ethics of the Australian dental association.

Both the Australian Society of Orthodontists and the Australian Dental Association have processes to deal with patient concerns. These organisations focus on trying to mediate between the practitioner and the patient and can provide independent advice about general concerns.

For more information on Ocean Orthodontics’ commitment, or to book an appointment, please do not hesitate to contact us

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