Banking cases for the American Board of Orthodontics' initial certification examination.

B oard certification has been widely accepted as a means of improving the quality of medical and dental care. Yet, certification of most practicing orthodontists has historically remained elusive at best. Traditional certification percentages of American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) members before 2005 did not exceed 25% and was only between 13% and 17% in the late 1970s. In 2005, to motivate more members of the specialty to become certified, the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) established a new certification process to increase the numbers of certified orthodontists and yet maintain its standards. This process was called ‘‘Early Certification’’ and included the concept of mandatory, periodic recertification to maintain the level of care throughout an orthodontist’s career. The ABO’s vision was that early certification, followed by repeated recertification, initiates a lifelong process of learning and self-evaluation. The ABO later renamed the Early Certification process the ‘‘InitialCertificationExamination’’ (ICE). Among various specific requirements, the ICE uses cases treated in an orthodontist’s residency with precise stipulations. The specifics of the requirements can be found on the ABO website at www.americanboardortho.com. As the ICE process was used, it became apparent that residents in shorter orthodontic specialty programs had more difficulty in satisfying the ICE requirements than those from longer programs. Yet, studies showed that younger orthodontists, regardless of program length, valued certification. After the July 2007 conclu-