Current Issue January 2012 | Vol. 56, No. 1

Current Topic

January 2012
Oral Surgery for the General DentistHarry Dym, DDS, and Orrett E. Ogle, DDS, Guest Editors
An increased percentage of dental school graduates are now pursuing a one- or two-year program of study in a general dentistry hospital residency training program. This is often due to strictly personal desires to increase their level of experience or in many cases because of state regulations (New York State) required for state licensure; this additional training coupled with economic realities has had an impact on how they view their scope of practice and their role as health care community providers. General dentists in America now rightfully view themselves as the primary oral health care practitioner, similar to the family physician, and, as such, feel that, based on their education and training, can and should be able to provide a high level of patient care in multiple areas. Gone are the days when general dentists only drilled, filled, and billed, leaving other areas of practice, such as oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, etc, for the local specialist.