It’s common to think about your family dentist when the field of dentistry comes to mind. However, dentistry expands into a wide range of dental professionals outside of your usual dental office, particularly when it comes to specialty cases. If you’re curious to learn about the other types of dentists out there, then you’ve come to the right place!
General Dentist
A general dentist is someone you see on a regular basis to make sure your oral health is in check. This happens to be the most common dentist, as they see both children and adults, and take care of treatments that include general cleaning, dental x-rays and education in terms of at-home dental care. They’re also responsible for restorative dental work like teeth whitening, repairing chipped, cracked or missing teeth, artificial fillings and tooth decay. Even though general dentists are capable of treating most dental issues, there are other specialty dental professionals that deal with more complex situations.
Orthodontist
While an orthodontist might seem like they only deal in installing, maintaining and removing braces, their dental care can extend much further than that. Orthodontists are mainly concerned with perfecting misaligned teeth, jaw bones and other supporting features of the face for functional and cosmetic purposes. This means that an orthodontist’s field includes designing custom pieces like mouth guards, braces, alignment trays, retainers, headgear and face masks to correct any alignment problems.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons focus on treating the hard and soft tissue found in and around your mouth. This tissue includes the cheeks, lips, soft and hard palate, tongue, facial tissue, and gums. Medically trained in hospitals after dental school, these specialty surgeons perform invasive surgeries like complex tooth extractions and surgical jaw corrections. They can also perform reconstructive surgery, facial infection removal, sleep apnea treatments and more.
Periodontist
Periodontists focus on the gums, as they’re solely concerned with preventing, diagnosing and treating a variety of gum-related issues. Their specialty care includes extreme gum inflammation, pain, gum disease, installing dental implants and performing skin grafting for gum tissue. If you need extensive work done on your gums, then a periodontist should be your first stop.
Prosthodontist
A prosthodontist is a specialist that focuses on providing oral prostheses to replace damaged, missing or decayed teeth. Oral prostheses, or false teeth, typically include crowns, bridges, dentures, veneers and teeth implants. Custom-made for both cosmetic and functional purposes, prostheses can improve your ability to chew, speak and bite, both in terms of efficiency and safety. Prosthodontists work closely with dental labs in order to create a comfortable, high-quality prostheses for each patient.
Endodontist
An endodontist is a dentist that specializes in the inner part of the tooth, past the hardened enamel exterior that general dentists deal with. The interior of a tooth that’s located below the gum line is known as the pulp, which is soft and made up of sensitive tissue. When the pulp becomes damaged, inflamed or begins rotting from within due to injury, decay or trauma, then it needs to be treated or removed by an endodontist. If the pulp can’t be repaired, then a root canal will need to be performed to restore your oral health.