The American Board of Orthodontics: A brief history and update of the orthodontic certification process.

The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) has updated its clinical examination process to remove barriers to the case-based examination and to distinguish board-certified orthodontists from uncertified dental practitioners who provide orthodontic care. In 2017, the ABO took the bold step of adopting a new clinical examination format (a scenario-based examination), thereby, addressing the challenges that were inherent in the former case-based examination format. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic forced the scenario-based clinical examination scheduled for July 2020 to be canceled. This caused the ABO to regroup and adapt the scenario-based clinical examination to a format that could be administered worldwide in a testing center environment, eliminating the need to travel to St Louis, Missouri. The ABO-written examination remained unaltered. Since the scenario-based format was adopted, 63% of the AAO members are now board-certified, and the trend is upward. In support of our mission to elevate the quality of orthodontics through certification, education, and professional collaboration, the ABO is responsible for certifying orthodontists in a fair, reliable, and valid manner. This requires continuous evaluation and review of our certification process to ensure that our examination reliably evaluates the ability of orthodontists to provide the highest level of patient care.

2023-2024 American Board of Orthodontics practice analysis study: Part 1.

As a specialty board, the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) serves to protect the public and the orthodontic specialty by certifying orthodontists. The demonstration of commitment to lifelong learning and self-improvement is critical to achieving the highest level of patient care. The ABO completed a practice analysis study in 2023 to ensure all examinations represent current assessments of proficiency in orthodontics at a level of quality that satisfies professional expectations. The practice analysis is essential to providing a demonstrable relationship between the examination content and orthodontic practice and provides a critical foundation for ABO's examination programs.