How to Choose an Orthodontist in West Frisco Near FM 423

Braces & Aligners

8 min read  •  By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS  •  Updated August 2026

I am an orthodontist and my wife and I own an orthodontic practice in this area, so I am not going to pretend to be a neutral reviewer of the other offices near FM 423. That would be dishonest and you would be right not to trust it.

What I can give you is the criteria. These are the things I would want somebody in my own family to check, and they apply equally to us and to everyone else on this road.

Take them to two or three consultations and you will know quickly which practice fits your case.

Start with training, because the title is regulated

An orthodontist completed an accredited residency after dental school, typically two to three years, focused entirely on tooth movement and jaw growth. That title is protected. A general dentist cannot use it.

What a general dentist absolutely can do is provide clear aligner treatment and some braces cases, and plenty do it competently. There is nothing improper about it. But it is a different depth of training, and the marketing language often blurs the line with phrases like specializing in orthodontics.

So ask directly: did you complete an orthodontic residency, and how long was it. It is a fair question and the answer is a fact.

Board certification is the next layer and it is voluntary. Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics means completed cases were submitted to a panel of examiners after residency. Roughly a third of orthodontists hold it. It does not make somebody better than a colleague who chose not to pursue it, and it does tell you the work has been examined by somebody other than the person who did it. We explained the whole hierarchy in what the letters after a name mean.

Ask who owns the practice

This one matters more in orthodontics than most people realise, because treatment runs eighteen months to three years. You are not buying a procedure, you are entering a relationship with an office for a long time.

A practice owned by a dental service organization can change hands, change associates, and change protocols during your treatment. That is not automatically bad care. But an orthodontist who is an employee working against production targets set elsewhere faces pressure that an owner does not.

Just ask at the front desk. Independent offices answer in seconds. We went through how to check any practice yourself in the piece on practice ownership.

What a good consultation looks like

This is where practices separate, and you can assess it in one visit.

You should see your own records. A panoramic x-ray, a scan or impressions, photos, and somebody walking you through what they show. Not a generic explanation of braces, your actual mouth on a screen.

You should hear more than one option where more than one exists, including the tradeoffs. Braces and aligners are not interchangeable for every case, and an office that recommends the same appliance to everybody is telling you something about its business model rather than your teeth.

You should get a written estimate covering the full treatment, records, retainers, and what happens if treatment runs long.

And you should get an honest answer about complexity. Some cases are straightforward. Some are genuinely difficult and will take longer than the marketing timeline. A practice that tells you that up front is more trustworthy than one promising everyone the same fast result.

What to actually compare between offices

Take this to each consultation.

Tap and drag the table sideways to see every column.

The part almost nobody asks about

Retention. What happens after the braces come off.

Teeth move for the rest of your life. That is not a treatment failure, it is biology, and the only thing that holds a result is a retainer worn as instructed, sometimes indefinitely. A practice that treats retention as an afterthought is selling you a two year outcome, not a permanent one.

Ask what the retention protocol is, what retainers are included in the fee, what a replacement costs, and whether there is any kind of ongoing replacement program. The answers vary enormously between offices and the cost difference over ten years is real.

This is also the question that most reliably separates practices that think about long term outcomes from those that think about case starts.

On price, and on where we fit

Fees between reputable orthodontic practices in this area are usually closer than people expect, and the differences that do exist often reflect what is bundled rather than the treatment itself. Compare what is included, not the headline number.

Almost every practice offers monthly payment plans, and most work with orthodontic insurance benefits, which typically have a lifetime maximum rather than an annual one.

As for us: our sister practice is Elate Orthodontics, with offices in West Frisco, North Frisco, and The Colony. I am a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, we own it ourselves, and we are not part of any group. That is our answer to the questions above. Ask the same ones everywhere else you go.

And if what you actually need is general dentistry rather than orthodontics, that is what we do here on FM 423, including for people whose orthodontist is somebody else entirely.

Common questions

How do I choose an orthodontist in West Frisco?

Compare training, ownership, what a consultation actually shows you, what the fee includes, and the retention plan afterward. Take the same questions to two or three offices.

Is an orthodontist better than a general dentist for braces?

An orthodontist completed a two to three year residency in tooth movement after dental school. General dentists may legally provide aligners and some braces cases and many do it well, but it is a different depth of training.

What does board certified mean in orthodontics?

Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, which involves submitting completed treated cases to a panel of examiners after residency. It is voluntary, which is what gives it meaning.

Should I get more than one consultation?

Two or three is useful. Beyond that you are comparing waiting rooms. Ask each the same set of questions so the answers are comparable.

What should be included in the treatment fee?

Records, the treatment visits, retainers at the end, and a stated policy for what happens if treatment runs longer than planned. Quotes that exclude some of these are not comparable.

Why does retention matter so much?

Teeth continue to move throughout life. Retainers are what hold the result. Ask what is included, what replacements cost, and whether there is a long term replacement program.

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