A conundrum often faced
by patients is- when should we visit a General Dentist and when
should we approach a Dental Specialist?
A General Dentist
can usually perform all basic procedures and specialist procedures to a certain
degree. These procedures might include root canals, crowns, dentures and basic
surgeries. They often self-determine which specialized treatments they want to
perform themselves and when they would prefer referral to a specialist.
A Dental Specialist spends a
longer time in dental college to receive
additional training in performing more specialized oral care in a
particular field of study. Besides performing all basic procedures, they can perform
highly specialized procedures in their field.
It is always best to first
visit your family’s trusted General Dentist for your treatment. This will generally
result in you receiving the care and treatment you need while being easier on
your wallet. ;) If a complicated
procedure is needed, you will be referred to a specialist anyway.
From my Clinic Diaries:
A week back, a young patient came into my clinic with a fractured wisdom tooth and an
associated lemon-sized swelling. Though she accepted that the best course was
to eventually extract the tooth, she was terrified that she was due to visit a specialist for major
surgery. She had heard that wisdom teeth had to be removed surgically and
envisioned a dramatic and painful scene involving drills, hammers and rivers of
blood.
She
was misinformed in this case. A general dentist would commonly refer a patient
to an oral surgeon for a wisdom tooth extraction when the tooth is impacted. An
“impacted tooth” is a tooth that has not completely erupted, or a tooth that is
positioned awkwardly in the jaw and not erupting in a normal manner. A surgeon
would usually have to perform a minor surgery which would involve minimal drilling
of bone, wedging out the tooth with simple leverage and suturing of the gum.
My
patient had a completely erupted wisdom tooth and I proceeded with a simple,
uneventful extraction of the tooth. And of course…I used local anesthesia too! ;)
