Becoming an orthodontist means first becoming a dentist, then completing an accredited orthodontics residency of at least 24 months and, if you choose, earning board certification from the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO).
The path runs a bachelor's, dental school for a DDS or DMD, then the residency — and the seats in that residency are few.
Here's the path.
The short answer
The path is dental school plus an orthodontics residency.
You become a dentist first, then complete an accredited two-to-three-year residency dedicated to orthodontics, and can then pursue voluntary board certification.
The hardest part isn't the coursework — it's earning one of the limited residency seats.
For how specialty training works in general — CODA accreditation, the match, and boards — see dental residency & board certification.
How long the stages take
The only stage with a published length is the residency.
CODA requires an accredited orthodontics program to run at least 24 months and 3,700 scheduled hours, and in practice programs run longer than that floor: accredited programs averaged 31.2 months in 2025–26, per the CODA/ADA HPI Survey of Advanced Dental Education.
| Stage | What the sources fix |
|---|---|
| Bachelor's degree with science prerequisites | Required by most dental programs (BLS); no set length in our sources |
| Dental school (DDS or DMD) | Required for licensure, from an accredited program (BLS); no set length in our sources |
| Orthodontics residency — CODA minimum | 24 months and 3,700 scheduled hours |
| Orthodontics residency — 2025–26 program average | 31.2 months |
The sources this page cites fix no total for the whole path, so no total is stated here — plan around the stages above.
Optional ABO board certification adds exams after residency, but no required years — certification is voluntary, and the National Commission's eligibility table lists orthodontics as two years of advanced education beyond the DDS/DMD, training the residency itself provides.
The real bottleneck isn't the calendar; it's the size of the funnel.
See how competitive orthodontics residency is for the applicant-vs-position numbers, or the 3,700-hour requirement for what the residency standard covers.
The schooling an orthodontist needs, stage by stage
Three stages of schooling, in order.
First, a bachelor's degree with the science coursework dental schools look for — most dental programs require applicants to have at least a bachelor's degree plus science courses such as biology or chemistry, per BLS.
For the undergraduate details — prerequisites, the DAT, applying — see how to become a dentist.
Second, dental school, ending in a DDS or DMD, the degree dentists hold.
The record you build there — grades, class rank, board scores — is the record you'll apply to residency with, so treat the dental-school years as the front half of your residency application.
Third, the residency itself: an accredited orthodontics program of at least 24 months and 3,700 scheduled hours, focused entirely on the specialty.
And the schooling is expensive before residency even starts: indebted 2025 dental graduates averaged $297,800 in education debt, per ADEA's survey of graduating students.
The step-by-step path
Five steps take you from pre-dental student to practicing orthodontist:
Earn a bachelor's degree with prerequisites
Complete undergrad with the science coursework most dental programs require, and a strong GPA — you'll want to be a competitive applicant not just for dental school but for residency later.Complete dental school (DDS or DMD)
Dental school earns a DDS or DMD — the degree the rest of this path is built on.Get licensed as a dentist
Obtain your state dental license — the same licensure any dentist earns. The credentials section below spells out what licensure involves.Get into an orthodontics residency
Apply to accredited orthodontics programs and earn a seat in one. The funnel is narrow — the CODA/ADA HPI survey counts 69 accredited programs, with 431 first-year residents enrolled in 2025–26 — so the record you build in dental school is what you'll be applying with; see how competitive that match actually is for the applicant-vs-position numbers. The residency itself must run at least 24 months and 3,700 scheduled hours under CODA's accreditation minimum — see the 3,700-hour requirement for what that standard actually covers.Consider ABO board certification
After residency, orthodontists can earn certification from the American Board of Orthodontics — a voluntary credential, which the National Commission describes as demonstrating a commitment to lifelong learning and continued professional development; it counted 5,643 active orthodontic diplomates as of Dec. 31, 2025.
What credentials does an orthodontist end up with?
Three are required.
The DDS or DMD from dental school; the state dental license — dentists must be licensed in the state where they work, and licensure usually requires the accredited degree plus written and clinical exams, with requirements varying by state (BLS); and the completed orthodontics residency — specialty training that often culminates in a postdoctoral certificate or master's degree (BLS) — is what makes you the specialist.
Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics is one of the 12 dental specialties the National Commission recognizes, and the ADA Code of Ethics names it among the 12.
The fourth credential is optional.
After residency, the specialty's credential ladder runs through three statuses the National Commission defines: educationally qualified — dental school, the specialty residency, and a state license; board eligible — eligible to sit the American Board of Orthodontics exam but hasn't yet; and board certified — passed it, with continuing education required to stay certified.
For what ABO certification actually involves, see ABO board certification for orthodontists.
Licensure is set state by state
What it takes — and what it pays
The commitment is real: the dentist path, then a residency of at least 24 months, with admission the hardest step.
The payoff is a focused specialty with strong pay — BLS projects 6% employment growth for orthodontists from 2025 to 2035, and orthodontists post a BLS median of $289,140 a year (SOC 29-1023, May 2025).
That sits above the $170,950 general-dentist median and the $224,990 line for "dentists, all other specialists", and below oral and maxillofacial surgeons ($352,220) and prosthodontists ($311,180).
Note the figure's limits: BLS wage estimates don't cover the self-employed or owners and partners in unincorporated firms, so an owner's earnings aren't fully described by it.
Alongside the clinical training, the business side of practice rewards attention of its own.
For the full role, see what an orthodontist does.
This article is general career information; pay figures are national BLS medians and vary by source, ownership, and location.