limited practice

[Tooth Extractor]

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Hello everyone, I want to become a dentist, partly because one can do surgery on the oral cavity. I like the surgery aspects of dentistry, but is a dentist surgical knowledge limited to the teeth and gums only? I wanted to know if a dentist can operate on the tongue and salivary glands as well? One thing that I have thought about is that most medical specialties focus on an organ (ophthalmologist focus on the eye, which is an organ); so with that said is the tongue or salivary glands (organs) part of the dentist scope of practice or is it limited to just the teeth and gums?

 

[Ragekage]

Hello everyone, I want to become a dentist, partly because one can do surgery on the oral cavity. I like the surgery aspects of dentistry, but is a dentist surgical knowledge limited to the teeth and gums only? I wanted to know if a dentist can operate on the tongue and salivary glands as well? One thing that I have thought about is that most medical specialties focus on an organ (ophthalmologist focus on the eye, which is an organ); so with that said is the tongue or salivary glands (organs) part of the dentist scope of practice or is it limited to just the teeth and gums?

Ive been working in a general dental office that also has a focus on ortho and implantology for about 4 years now and I believe I can safely say that, no, a general dentist does not typically deal with that sort of surgery. Yes general dentists do biopsies on the tongue and oral tissue on a regular basis, but complex surgeries to fix established problems are commonly delegated to specialists.

That said, an Oral surgeon, which is a specialty of dentistry, may deal with the types of surgery you are referring to. Of course an oral surgeon is honestly one of the most difficult specialties to get into, which is an additional 4 years of coursework after getting your dds/dmd ultimately resulting in an MD on top of your dental doctorate.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Yep, you need to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

Extremely competitive to get into. You would need your dental degree before applying to this residency.

There are 4 year residencies, and 6 year residencies.
The 6 year residency will make you take medical school classes, and you'll end up with an MD afterwards.

Wikipedia is your friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_and_maxillofacial_surgery

 

[MrJingles]

Just a side note. The wikipedia article you referenced mentions Tomaso Vercellotti and the Piezosurgery machine. This is a must see piece of equipment! The OMFS I used to work for used it quite a bit for grafting and whenever they were working around the sinus and it is just awe inspiring. Absolutely genious!

 

[youknowthedrill]

Sounds like you should shadow an oral surgeon.