what limitations do specialists have?

[ovega03]

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i forgot where i heard this, but i was told that if your are a specialist (eg. endo, prostho, etc.) that you are limited by law to strictly perform procedures under your specialty. i heard this in a lecture, so i was unsure what this meant and was wondering if you all could help me out. from my understanding, it sounds that if you're an endodontist, you can not perform routine fillings, or other procedures that are outside of your specialty.

now i am only a predent student, but i am curious to see what specialties encompass the greatest amount of procedures. and if this statement i heard is true.

i shadowed a prosthodontist in canada one summer, and he did everything from braces to root canals.

thanks

 

[DcS]

That statement is false.

Whatever specialty you choose, you are still a D.D.S. As such, you can do any procedure a general dentist would choose to do.

 

[toofache32]

Actually, it varies by state depending on how you advertise yourself. For example, a classmate of mine did an ortho residency and is practicing in Tennessee in a very small town where there isn't enough ortho to keep him busy. So he calls himself a general dentist so he can do crown & bridge, restorative....and ortho.

 

[DrJeff]

Toofache hit the nail on the head. If you're a specialist and advertise your practice as "Practice limited to XXXXX" then your just doing that designated area of dentistry. I.E. if you advertise your practice and yourself as an oral surgery practice, then you're not doing any crown and bridge. Granted some specialty areas have some overlap with other scopes of practice, like an endodontist can do an extraction if the tooth isn't restoreable, or an endodontist can place a restoration on a tooth after treatment, some pedodontists do some ortho, etc, etc, etc.

As was also said in this thread, sometimes a trained specialist won't advertise themselves as such and then function as a general dentist doing anything procedure they want. Another example is the dentist whose practice is in the building next to mine is a am oral surgeon by specialty training, but chooses to practice as a general dentist.

 

[12YearOldKid]

i shadowed a prosthodontist in canada one summer, and he did everything from braces to root canals.

thanks

That's because he was practicing as a general dentist --- as many prosthodontists do.

If you are looking for variety, general dentistry is the way to go. If you want to do one thing over and over and over again for the rest of your life.... but do it very well, endo is for you. Everything else falls somewhere in between those two extremes.

 

[DcS]

Toofache hit the nail on the head. If you're a specialist and advertise your practice as "Practice limited to XXXXX" then your just doing that designated area of dentistry. I.E. if you advertise your practice and yourself as an oral surgery practice, then you're not doing any crown and bridge. Granted some specialty areas have some overlap with other scopes of practice, like an endodontist can do an extraction if the tooth isn't restoreable, or an endodontist can place a restoration on a tooth after treatment, some pedodontists do some ortho, etc, etc, etc.

As was also said in this thread, sometimes a trained specialist won't advertise themselves as such and then function as a general dentist doing anything procedure they want. Another example is the dentist whose practice is in the building next to mine is a am oral surgeon by specialty training, but chooses to practice as a general dentist.

So when I'm advertised as a pediatric dentist it's technically illegal for me to do operative on my wife/parents/friends??

 

[DrJeff]

So when I'm advertised as a pediatric dentist it's technically illegal for me to do operative on my wife/parents/friends??

Technically Yes, but thats one of those gray areas, because technically a pediatric dentist scope of practice is upto age 18 or often pediatric AND ADULT special needs patients, so with most kids after age 12 or so and with many adult special needs patients, the pediatric dentist is working on a full adult dentition. I guess you could just say that your souse/parents/friends are "special needs" and you'll be fine 😉 😱 😀 🙄

 

[DcS]

I guess you could just say that your souse/parents/friends are "special needs" and you'll be fine 😉 😱 😀 🙄

I think all wives are "special needs" 😱 😀

 

[grant555]

This is a dam good question, and I have heard it put to an orthodontist, and he remarked that once you "declared" yourself as a specialist it was against the law to practice outside of that specialty. He did not go anymore in depth into his answer, but I can see how it is plausible and might also vary from state to state. I've always found that answer to be somewhat unfinished and regret I didn't push him to nail down specifics. This is probably due to the fact that I have little interest in specializing to this point, but that was and is no reason to remain in the dark on the subject.

Having said that, I have never seen a specialist practice outside of their area of specialization, but that doesn't mean no one does this.

In many respects, the answer could come down to a more ethical stance than clinical if a state law didn't explicitly define parameters.

If law doesn't mandate this option, it would be up to the individual clinician to determine what the course of action should be, and you could make sound arguments for either side.

For instance, I am not convinced if it is fiscally feasible to invest time and money into a particular area of specialization and then intermediately venture out into other specialties. It seems that it would've been more cost and time effective to not specialize at all.

On the other hand, you could argue that as a health professional you know better than anyone what you can and cannot competently deal with and will take the good and bad that comes since legally it may or may not open up the door for potential lawsuits if things go awry.

Come to think of it, an astute litigator could have a field day even if there aren't complications. In any case, I would be interested to see what the specifics of these scenarios would be. Take care and GOD bless.

 

[OMFSCardsFan]

Actually, it varies by state...

I went to dental school in Wisconsin. In one underserved area of the state, a group of oral surgeons practice as just that, but they also do endodontics. I'm not sure of the specifics, but it sounds like a great gig. Maybe North2South can add some info, since that's his neighborhood...