Dr. Feather is a specialist in Orthodontics. She is an active member in good standing of the American Association of Orthodontists. A specialist is trained as a dentist first, then receives additional formal training at the country's best dental schools approved for specialty training.

Most people don't know this, but specialists are the only ones who can use the ending '-ist' to identify themselves, such as "Orthodontist." Beware of those who use signage saying "Orthodontics" or "We Do Braces." Many times they are not orthodontists, simply general dentists who chose to do braces. Sometimes the owner of the office is a specialist but other doctors may join the group who are not specialists and treat you or your child under the false pretense that they are all equally qualified. The designation "Orthodontics" allows the owner doctor to hire any dentist he wishes, even if they're not a specialist. You can check the qualifications of doctors by calling the dental school from which they completed their specialty training, or simply, anyone who is a member of the American Association of Orthodontists must be a specialist. See if the doctor displays the logo for the AAO .

Background Dr. Feather has been in practice exclusively as an orthodontist in Chino Hills, California for 15 years. She attended dental school at UCLA and graduated in the top 10% of the class in 1986 and won many awards. The awards she values the most are those for "Special Patient Care" (which is care for the handicapped) and also for "Exceptional Interest in the Area of Craniofacial Growth."

She is a dual specialist in Orthodontics and Pedodontics (children's dentistry). She was the first UCLA dental school graduate to earn a place in the dual specialty program in Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at UCLA. Typically, specialty programs don't accept students from the same dental school from which they graduated. While in dental school, she also earned a Masters of Oral Biology from UCLA and completed her Master's Thesis. This resulted in a published paper and an abstract that identified and analyzed an animal model of a birth defect of the lower jaw. She completed her specialty training at UCLA in 1989 and immediately started practicing orthodontics in Chino Hills as the associate of Dr. Allan Sheridan.

Soon after graduation, and while in practice, Dr. Feather taught Children's Dentistry at Loma Linda University School of Dentistry for several years. After buying the practice from Dr. Sheridan, she left Loma Linda and taught for 5 years at UCLA in the Department of Oral Biology where her lectures were on Human Embryology. She will likely return to teaching in the later years of her career.