Dentists are like artists who have various fields of expertise. One artist may be adept at making realistic paintings, while another artist may be famous for their skills in sculpture. The same is true in the dental profession, where a dentist may be good at extracting a tooth, but may not be adept enough at treating gum disease. That is why there are cases where a patient will be referred to another dental professional if a specific problem requires a different dental procedure that the current dentist may not be an expert with. A good example of this is the case where a general dentist will refer you to an orthodontist for the installation of dental appliances.
There are definitely different types of diseases and ailments associated with oral health. Some dentists may also have gained their expertise in a specific oral disease from various patients they may have worked with before. However, there are fields of study in dentistry in which a dental profession may specialize. So here are some specializations that dentists can expand further in their profession:
1) Endodontics: involves treatment within the tooth and can be explained by examining the origin of this medical terminology. The term comes from the word “endo”, which in Greek means interior and “odont”, which means tooth in Greek. Therefore, the most common task performed by endodontists is endodontics.
2) Pedodontics – This is the terminology used for pediatric dentistry and this field is dedicated to the oral health of children. Specialization plays a very important role in treating the current epidemic of early childhood tooth decay or severe tooth decay, which is an infectious disease that has infected about 70% of children in the US.
3) Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: This field involves complex dental extractions and dental implant placement. Dental surgeons also perform the removal of benign and malignant tumors in the mouth, neck, jaws and, in rare cases, even the head. Other surgeries involve the treatment of sleep apnea and other disorders associated with impaired speech and jaw joints.
4) Orthodontics: involves the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of facial irregularities due to dental problems. Orthodontists are responsible for the installation of dental appliances and dentofacial developments. There are strict requirements to include this advanced specialty as part of a dentist’s qualifications and admission to orthodontic dental programs is competitive.
Some of the above specializations in dentistry may require dentists to obtain one after passing an advanced specialization program that can take 2-3 years. Therefore, for those patients with dental problems who require a specialized dentist, they may need to consider referring them to another dental professional if their general dentist is not as skilled at treating that case.