Can a dds supervise someone who is not a orthodontist to do orthodontics on patients?

Yes: There is nothing illegal about a dentist performing orthodontic treatment on a patient. A dentist who is not a specialist should, however, not claim to be a specialist. Patients also need to understand that they are being treated by a general dentist who has not taken a specialty training program and is therefore not recognized as a specialist.

Depends.: Any general dentist (dds or dmd) can legally do any dental procedure that they feel competent to do and in which they've been adequately trained.

Dentist or assistant: There appears to be some confusion in your question, which almost also escaped me. If the person being supervised is a dentist, then legally he\she does not need supervision although there is nothing wrong with it. However, if the person being supervised is not a dentist, then exactly what he\she is allowed to do varies from state to state and must be supervised by a dentist. Quality is the ?

Confusing: A dentist can do any aspect of dentistry without supervision. In some states a dentist can direct an auxiliary, such as a dental assistant, to perform certain mechanical tasks if supervised by the dentist. Consider, however, that an orthodontist has a minimum of 2, 000 more hours of training in orthodontics than a general dentists, and limits practice to just that specialty.

Yes: Any dds or dmd can supervise any type of dental treatment including orthodontics. However only certain tasks can be delegated to dental assistants and most general dentists do not have the training that orthodontists have.

Yes, but no: They can, but they should not. An orthodontist has had 3 extra years of training to perform orthodontia. As such orthodontics should be left up to an orthodontist, not a general dentist (we don't ask internists to do heart surgury, why would you have a dentist do orthodontia?).

If it is a dentist: It is legal for any dentist to provide orthodontic treatment. It is illegal for anyone who is not a dentist to provide orthodontic treatment. Dental assistants help dentists provide this therapy under supervision doing highly regulated procedures at their direction. Orthodontists are specialists in this field, and receive extra training to do so.

Confusing: A dds (or dmd) can provide orthodontics provided they can perform to the standards of care that a specialist must provide. Orthodontics can be learned by a dds by long term study, but generally and sadly many unqualified dentists do orthodontics. As to supervision, a qualified assistant may perform certain tasks that are reversible, and many are employed by orthodontists.

General Dentist?: Your question is one of moral vs legal. In many states, once you have a license to practice dentisty, you may perform any dental procedure. The moral standard is different. I would always suggest those who are not specialist but perform specialty treatment "should" perform such treatment at the level of a specialist. The legal answer to your question is yes. The moral/ethical question ?????