Orthodontist

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɔː(ɹ)θəˈdɒntɪst/

Definitions

1. A dental care professional who specializes in adjusting teeth alignment and jaw positioning, they focus on correcting bite issues and improving the overall oral functionality through various orthodontic devices
2. This expert in dental health addresses issues related to tooth positioning and jaw misalignment, employing braces and retainers to enhance aesthetics and improve chewing efficiency
3. A specialist in dental medicine concentrating on the correction of teeth and jaw alignment, utilizing appliances to enhance both functional and aesthetic aspects of a patient's smile

Etymology: The word was assembled in English from "orthodontic" plus the agent suffix "-ist", so its story is really the story of its suffix. That suffix travelled a long road: it began in ancient Greek as "-istēs", a marker for a person who practises or works at something, and passed into Latin as "-ista". Old French then carried it forward, and it reached Middle English as "-iste" before settling into the form English speakers use today. "Orthodontic" itself is the more recent piece. It combines the Greek "orthos", meaning straight or correct, with "odous" (genitive "odontos"), meaning tooth. So the term describes a specialist in straightening teeth, and the suffix simply names the person who does the work.

Synonyms: dentist