why is it called an orthodontist and not an orthodentist?

Question

They both do teeth things, would have expected the names to match.

In: Biology

Answer 1

Both “-dont-” and “-dent-” come to us from the Latin “dent” meaning tooth.

But words that have “-dont-” like “orthodontist” and “iguanadon” come to us via Greek where the latin “dent” became the Greek “odon.”

Words that have “-dent-” came to us from French which kept it as “dent” (e.g. “dentiste”).