To prevent, diagnose, treat and study all diseases and disorders of the mouth is the generally accepted explanation of a dentist’s job. They train for more than seven years to become licensed dentists and when they finally achieve accepted levels of practice they can open a dental clinic to serve the public. If you are aware of any of the specialist areas of dentistry you will be aware of the different areas that dentistry can cover. For instance, the cosmetic side of dentistry focuses more on the appearance of the teeth, such as veneers, whitening and cleaning to make them look better. However, if the teeth are intrinsically unhealthy the other areas of dentistry, such as endodontics, orthodontics and dental prosthetics are required.
Some dentists are considered to be general practitioners in the same way that a medical doctor is a general practitioner. They will diagnose certain ailments or conditions and prescribe a treatment, but for more specialist areas they will refer the patient to the appropriate surgeon. Dentists work in similar ways and they will suggest other methods of treatment if it is something they do not specialize in. For example, wisdom tooth removal can range from a simply extraction to a full surgical procedure, depending on the condition of the wisdom teeth and the way they are growing. Some patients are referred to a hospital for surgical extraction, while others are slightly less complex and can be done in the dentist’s surgery.
What is the General Training like?
Dentists have to complete and graduate their high school and then attend a college where they obtain a bachelor’s degree and that’s even before they start their dentistry training. Once they graduate from college or university they must pass the DAT, the dental admissions test and then complete and graduate dental school. Once they complete that they can apply to be licensed but even so, dental students must take their chosen profession seriously and they are often asked to provide letters of recommendation to illustrate their seriousness.
If they move to a new area, such as St. Paul, they must set up their clinic from scratch. They will need to ‘win’ clients by proving that they are indeed good at their profession. Starting anything new is always a challenge but if the dentist can show that they are safe, trustworthy and honest, as well as being good at their job, they can end up with a strong reputation.
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