Taiwan Association of Orthodontists Enforcement Rules of the Regulations Governing the Diplomate Examination of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics
Adopted at the 2 nd Meeting of the 3 rd General Membership Meeting on Sep 5, 1993
Amended at the 4 th Meeting of the 2 nd Board of Directors on Apr 13, 1996
Amended at the 5 th Meeting of the 2 nd Board of Directors on Jun 1, 1996
Amended at the 6 th Meeting of the 3 rd Board of Directors on Oct 27, 1998
Amended at the 2 nd Meeting of the 4 th Board of Directors on Nov 2, 1999
Amended at the 8 th Meeting of the 4 th Board of Directors on Nov 16, 2000
Amended at the 11 th Meeting of the 4 th Board of Directors on Jul 10, 2001
Amended at the 12 th Meeting of the 5 th Board of Directors on Apr 22, 2003
Amended at the 11 th Meeting of the 9 th Board of Directors on Aug 22, 2006
Amended at the 12 th Meeting of the 9 th Board of Directors on Oct 31, 2006
Amended at the 3 rd Meeting of the 10 th Board of Directors on Mar 13, 2007
Amended at the 5 th Meeting of the 10 th Board of Directors on Jul 10, 2007
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1
These Enforcement Rules are enacted by the Diplomate Examination Committee of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics in accordance with Chapter VII of the Regulations Governing the Diplomate Examination of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics.
Chapter II
Qualification and Review of the Training Institutes for the Candidates to be the Diplomates of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics
Article2
The domestic training institutes shall be teaching hospitals of regional level or higher and their orthodontics departments shall be reviewed and approved by the Association in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Diplomate Examination of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics.
Article3
The following documents must be submitted for the application of training institutes for the Candidates to be the Diplomates of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics:
Application form for qualification of the training institute for the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics;
Equipment and course introduction of the training institutes;
The educational background and work experience of the instructors of the training institutes;
The full-time instructor(s) shall obtain the full-time appointment letter(s) from the hospital;
The part-time instructor(s) shall have one clinical service at least once per week;
For the training institutes, there must be at least two qualified full-time instructors of orthodontics to train one candidate. There shall be one more qualified full-time instructor of orthodontics or two part-time instructors of orthodontics for each additional trained candidate. T he number of the part-time instructors shall not exceed two times that of the full-time instructors .
The training institutes shall report to the Association the date for receiving training by the candidates and the Association shall establish the numbering system for the candidates.
Article4
Once the Examination Committee receives the application and attachments from the training institute, the Committee will appoint five to seven members to form a review team (the team members must keep off to review the training institutes where they work), visit the applicant institute and submit the visit result in writing to the Examination Committee for review. The training institute will be granted the qualification certificate by resolution adopted by at least two-thirds votes at a meeting of the Examination Committee attended by a majority of the members.
Article5
The Examination Committee shall form a review team as deemed necessary in accordance with the regulations governing the review of the training institute to investigate the operation and training status of the training institute for orthodontics and submit the report to the Examination Committee. If the Examination Committee considers it necessary for a particular training institute to make improvement, the Examination Committee may send a letter to such training institute for request of improvement within one year. If such training institute fails to meet the requirement by the Examination Committee, it may suggest TAO to disqualify such training institute.
Chapter III
Qualification and Review of the Full-time Instructors of Orthodontics
Article6
Before serving as an instructor for clinical training of orthodontist, he/she must submit to the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics Examination Committee the relevant documents for review. The orthodontist will possess the instructor qualification once the requirements are reviewed and approved by the Examination Committee.
Article7
The orthodontist acting as the training institutes instructor for the candidates must be the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics acknowledged by the Association, and possess any of the following experiences as well:
Possessing the assistant professor qualification or higher level approved by the Ministry of Education and teaching in the department of orthodontics of a medical college;
Acting as a full-time or part-time physician of orthodontics of a training institute recognized by the Association;
Qualified for an instructor of orthodontics in Japan ;
Qualified for an instructor of orthodontics in the USA ; or
Possessing the ABO or EBO Diplomate certificate; the qualifying process includes written test and oral test, as acknowledged by the Association.
Article8
In the event of any of the following circumstances caused by the instructor of orthodontics, the instructor may be disqualified:
Disqualified for being the diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics for some reason.
Failure of publishing articles, giving speech, table presentation or poster display at least once annually in journals or occasions (not limited to being the first author) recognized by the Association.
Chapter IV
Training Course Period and Training Content of the Candidates for the Diplomates of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics
Article9
The training course period for the orthodontist shall be three years, or more if without any leave taken.
Article10
The training content shall include the courses of basic biomedical science and clinical dentistry.
More than 40 hours of the course of basic biomedical science for the training of the orthodontist, with the following included:
(1) The craniofacial growth and development
(2) Anatomy of the head and neck
(3) Research method and biostatistics
(4) Advanced oral biology
(5) Physiology of occlusion
More than 360 hours of the clinical dentistry for the training of the orthodontist, with the following included:
(1) Cephalometric x-ray analysis
(2) Clinical Orthodontics
(3) Biomechanics in Orthodontics
(4) Diagnosis of clinical orthodontics case and discussion
(5) Literature review on Orthodontics
(6) Craniofacial deformity
(7) Orthognathic surgery
(8) Clinical orthodontics typodont course
Article11
Upon the completion of the training course, it is required to submit a simple case summary specifying separately of five cases treated by the trained orthodontist throughout the whole treatment course and thirty cases for treatment over one year (For details, see the application form for qualification of training institute).
Article12
For those who successfully complete the training, the training institute shall issue them a certificate of completion (For details, see the application form for qualification of training institute).
Chapter V
Application Requirement for the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics
Article13
The applicant who applies for the diplomate examination of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics shall be the general member of the Association. The procedure is listed below:
When the general member applies for diplomate examination of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics, he/she shall first take the written test. He/she will not be able to take the oral test until he/she passes the written test. For the trained orthodontist taking a three-year full-time training course, even if he/she passes the written test after he/she has completed two-year training course, he/she cannot take the oral test for the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics until one year later.
If a general member of the Association is Board certificated for foreign nationwide Board of Orthodontics recognized either by the Association or the Department of Health, the qualifying process will include written test and oral test. Those being recognized by the Association can submit to the Examination Committee the qualification certificate for exemption from diplomate examination.
If a general member of the Association has served as a teacher in the department of orthodontics of a medical college for more than two years and possesses the assistant professor qualification recognized by the Ministry of Education, he/she can submit to the Examination Committee the qualification certificate for exemption from diplomate examination.
Chapter VI
Application Method and Steps for the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics
Article14
The orthodontist who applies for the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics shall submit to the Examination Committee the following documents:
Application letter for the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics; and
Recommendation letters from two Diplomates of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics of the Association.
Article15
A general member, after passing the qualification review, will not be able to take the oral test until he/she passes the written test. Those who passed the ABO or EBO written tests can be exempted from the written test. For oral test, it is required to submit a report covering five clinical cases as stipulated by the Association.
Written Test:
(1)
In principle, the written test is held annually. If deemed necessary, the frequency can be increased. The date, location and fee are announced upon the determination made by the Examination Committee.
(2)
The written test team shall prepare and grade the examination.
(3)
The written test consists of two parts; the first part concerns the basic medical science related to the orthodontics and the second part covers the clinical orthodontics (no percentage restriction). The coverage includesˇV Proffit, Graber textbook and TBO references.
(4)
The written test is scored by percentage and score of 60 must be obtained.
(5)
Once the score is evaluated by the written test team, the Examination Committee will inform the applicant about the score.
(6)
The valid period for the passing of written test is six years.
Oral Test:
(1)
In principle, the oral test is held annually. If deemed necessary, the frequency can be increased. The date, location and fee are announced upon the determination made by the Examination Committee.
(2)
The oral test team shall prepare the case review and oral test.
(3)
The oral test consists of case review and case reports:
A.
Case Submission:
The applicant shall, according to the requirements of the Examination Committee, submit five cases containing the information of pre-treatment and post-treatment, so as to evaluate the applicant's ability to diagnose and treat patients. The five cases submitted by the applicant ( four from nine selective required cases and one optional case ), according to the requirement of the Association, must include various types of malocclusion and various treatment methods (including at least three cases of tooth extractions or teeth agenesis) and the complete treatment cases.
(I)
Four from nine cases can be selected from the following nine types of malocclusion categories:
e.g.,
a.
Complete two-stage treatment case: starting with mixed dentition stage
b.
Class I malocclusion with bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion
c.
Class I malocclusion case: including open-bite, deep-bite or severe space deficiency
d.
Class II div. I malocclusion with space deficiency
e.
Class II div. I malocclusion case: large mandibular plane angle and ant. Open-bite
f.
Class II div. II case
g.
Anterior cross-bite malocclusion: complete cross-bite of four maxillary incisors
h.
Severe maxilla-mandible basal bone discrepancy: AP or vertical relationship
i.
Adult malocclusion case combined with periodontal , endodontic and/or prosthodontic therapy / non-surgical case
(II)
Optional case. Note: Case Attribute
a.
Based on the standards of Angle Classification.
b.
Class I---
The triangular ridge of the mesiobuccal cusp of the upper first molar must be occluded on the position of buccal groove of the lower first molar.
c.
Class II---
Patient with distocclusion of the lower first molar greater than 3 mm if c ompared to the upper first molar.
d.
Class III---
P atient with mesioclusion of the lower first molar greater than 3 mm if c ompared to the upper first molar.
B.
The results of the case review are divided into the following:
a.
Passed: Cases all passed.
b.
Partially Passed: If three or more cases are passed, only the type of the case failed needs to be submitted for the make-up exam.
c.
Failed: If the number of passed cases is less than three, it is required to submit five new cases for the make-up exam.
C.
Case Report for Oral Test:
The applicant shall present the case report orally from the five submitted cases chosen by lot of his/her own accord. The content of the oral test, in addition to the case report, shall include:
a.
Diagnosis and treatment of orthodontics cases;
b.
Orthodontics-related basic medical science;
c.
The craniofacial growth and development;
d.
Biomechanics;
e.
Cephalometric analysis-related content.
(4)
The diplomate examination of the case review and the oral test of case report shall be scored by the Examination Committee attended by a majority of the members and the full marks for the average points graded by the present members is 100 points, with 70 being the passing mark.
Article16
Once the applicant has passed the written test and oral test, the Examination Committee will report to the Board of Directors for the issuance of diplomate certificate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics.
Article17
Application for score review must be submitted in a written form specifying the reasons within 15 days after the score announcement. Late application will not be accepted and the score review will be accepted only once. For score review, the applicant shall not request for the disclosure of name(s) of the grading personnel and other relevant information.
Article18
The qualification supporting documents and examination papers for the diplomate examination of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics shall be kept and maintained for two years. However, the score of the written test for a make-up exam shall be kept for six years.
Article19
After the review of the Specialist Board system of such foreign country by the Examination Committee to decide the training process is equivalent to that of Taiwan , the orthodontist who possesses a foreign diplomate certificate of the specialty Board of the Orthodontics can be exempted from the written test and oral test. The orthodontist can submit the application to the Taiwan Association of Orthodontists and then the application will be forwarded to the Department of Health for the issuance of the diplomate certificate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics .
Article20
The application fee for the procedures set forth in the Enforcement Rules shall be specified by the Examination Committee separately.
Chapter VII
Re-certification of the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics and Renewal of Certificate
Article21
The valid period for the diplomate certificate for the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics is six years. Application for the re-certification may be filed with the Association upon expiration of the valid period. The valid period for each extension is six years.
Article22
The following documents and fees are needed for the re-certification application:
Application letter.
Copy of the membership certificate of the Association, copy of the diplomate certificate for the Taiwan Board of the Orthodontics and three one-inch half-length photos taken in recent months.
The relevant documents satisfied the requirements for extending the valid period of the diplomate certificate for the Taiwan Board of the Orthodontics pursuant to Article 23 herein. However, this does not apply to senior members.
Re-certification fee.
Article23
Requirements for extending the valid period of the diplomate certificate for the Taiwan Board of the Orthodontics:
In addition to the requirements that the qualification of general members and relevant members of the Association (ˇ§Membersˇ¨) is continued in effect under the Articles of the Association, the general members must obtain 180 credit points of professional continuing education course every six years and the relevant members must obtain 90 credit points of professional continuing education course (the senior members may be exempted from taking education credit points to maintain their qualification of general/relevant members). For the number of education hours to be taken by the members of the Association per year, Members must take 50% (or more) of the prescribed basic education hours for the courses hosted by the Association.
For participants in the annual meeting of the Taiwan Association of Orthodontists (including the General Membership Meeting), 1.5 credit points for per hour can be recognized .
For participants in the continuing education course hosted by the Taiwan Association of Orthodontists or other relevant associations, 1 credit point for per hour can be recognized.
For the publication in the academic activities organized by TAO or foreign orthodontics associations, the lecturer and the one who presents a poster paper can obtain 4 credit points for per paper, the instructor can obtain 4 credit points for per paper and the commentator can obtain 2 credit points for per paper.
For distance education through the Association's journal and the Internet continuing education, 2 credit points for each time will be recognized.
For teachers and lecturers, the education hours are determined as follows: one credit point for per hour; the maximum credit points per year is 15 credit points.
For those who publish papers in the medical journals recognized by the Association, the criteria for recognizing credit points are as follows:
(1)
For the first author and corresponding author's original papers published in international journals and the Association's journal, 6 credit points for per paper can be obtained for publication in domestic journals, and 12 credit points for foreign journals. For other authors' papers, the recognized education credit points will be reduced by half.
(2)
For non-original papers, the first author and corresponding authors can obtain 4 credit points for per paper for publication in domestic journals, and 8 credit points for per paper for foreign journals. For other authors' papers, the recognized education credit points will be reduced by half. For papers published in other journals other than international level journals, the recognized credit points will be reduced by half.
Any amendment to the Application Method will take effect only after the resolutions adopted by a Meeting of Board of Directors.
Article24
Except for the purpose of research, the relevant papers and qualification supporting documents required for extending the valid period of the diplomate certificate for the specialty physician of the orthodontics will be kept and maintained for two years.
Chapter VIII
Disqualification
Article25
For those who meet any of the following conditions, the diplomate of the Taiwan Board of Orthodontics will be disqualified:
Failure to pay the annual fee.
Failure to pass the re-certification.
Disqualified as a dentist.
Disqualified as a member of the Taiwan Association of Orthodontists.
In breach of rules prescribed by the Examination Committee and being disqualified based on resolutions adopted by at least two thirds votes at a meeting of the Examination Committee attended by a majority of the Examination Committee members.
Chapter IX
Supplementary Provisions
Article26
These Enforcement Rules will be take force on the date of promulgation. Amendment to these Enforcement Rules shall be adopted by at least two thirds votes at a meeting of the Examination Committee attended by a majority of the Examination Committee members.
The recognition requirements of the qualification for exemption from test under these Enforcement Rules shall be in effect until DOH officially entrusts the Association to handle the diplomate examination. Thereafter, all requirements for obtaining the Diplomate of the Taiwan Board of the Orthodontics will be subject to the requirements of DOH then in effect.
Chapter I General Provisions 
