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.