A Periodontist is the one who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease and in the placement of dental implants. Periodontist is also dentistry’s expert in the treatment of gums inflammation. The word periodontal means around the tooth. Periondontal diseases are the bacterial infection that can destroy the attachment fibers and supporting bone that hold the teeth in the mouth. If left untreated may cause the lost of teeth. In recent years, gum disease has been linked to other health problems. This includes atherosclerosis and heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, stroke and premature birth. Periodontal disease is caused by bacteria in dental plague. In order to get rid off the bacteria, the cells of immune system release substances that inflame and damage the gums, periodontal ligament or alveolar bones. This leads to swollen, bleeding gums (gingivitis). Periodontal disease can be prevented by practicing good oral hygiene and visiting your dentist regularly. The treatment is either non surgical or non surgical depends on the condition of the tooth and gum. The non-surgical are includes scaling and root planning. Root planning is a careful cleaning of the root surfaces to remove plaque and calculus (tartar) from deep periodontal packets and to smooth the tooth root to remove bacteria toxins, followed by adjunctive therapy such as local delivery anti-micro bacterial, and host modulation. Most of the patient did not need any further active treatment after this. For the surgical treatment, the Periodontist will remove all the damage tissue around the teeth which cannot be treated anymore using scalpel, scissors, forceps and others. Following are four types of periodontal surgery:
· Pockets reduction procedures
· Regenerative procedures
· Crown lengthening
· Soft tissue graft
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is surgery to correct a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries, and defects on the heads, face, jaws, and the hard and soft tissue of the oral and maxillofacial region. It is one from the nine specialties in dentistry. Maxillofacial is the adjacent structures near the teeth, jaw and oral cavity. The maxillofacial surgeons treat the patients by surgery and the tooth extraction is the simplest type of surgical. This branches of dentistry also concern on the aesthetics aspects of hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region. The oral and maxillofacial specialty is unique as in requiring a dual qualification of medicine and dentistry and it a recognized international specialty which within Europe is defined under the medical directives. The scope of specialty is extensive and includes the diagnosis and management of facial injuries, head and neck cancers, salivary gland diseases, facial disproportion, facial pain, temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, impacted teeth, cyst and tumors of the jaw as well as numerous problems affecting the oral mucosa and such as mouth ulcer and infections. There are relationships between oral and maxilla facial surgeon and others specialties where they need to works as a team in certain condition to give the suitable treatment for the patient. The other specialties involves are ophthalmology, dermatology, neurosurgery, anesthesiology and others. The most case involves the oral and maxillofacial specialty is the maxillofacial injuries. Maxillofacial injuries are treated by the technique of open reduction and internal fixation, using a variety of micro mini reconstruction plating system. This has lead to early restoration of function and rapid rehabilitation, but there is no doubt that many serious face injuries can cause permanent disfigurement and physiological distress with extensive soft tissues scarring presenting a particular challenge to the oral and maxilla facial surgeons. The oral and maxillofacial surgeons also using advance imaging technique such as CT scan, MRI and stereolithography to observe facial bony injuries as well as the cranial bones. It is essential that all the facial injuries are needs to refer to oral and maxillofacial specialty.
Pathology is branch in medicine that involve in study and diagnosis of diseases through laboratory or bare eyes. There is also pathology specialty in dentistry which is called oral pathology. Oral pathology is concern about the identification of oral diseases through diagnosis and investigates the causes, processes and effect of the disease. The practice of oral pathologist is includes research, diagnosis of diseases using clinical, radiographic, microscopic, biochemical or others examinations, and management of the patients. A good dentist should have good understanding and knowledge on oral pathology because they can detect the early symptoms of oral diseases by looking at their patient’s oral cavities. The microscope is the instrument usually used by oral pathologist to observe the tissues taken from infected area by biopsy. By using the microscope, they can detect the abnormalities occur on the tissues for example benign or malignant cancer and help in proper diagnosis to achieve suitable treatment for the patients. Oral pathologist helps the patient especially by early detection of fatal disease such as malignant cancer. Meanwhile, the oral biology is the specialty in dentistry that involve in the research and teaching in all dentistry school. Oral biologist teaches basic science of dental students such as anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology and physiology. The major research in this specialty are immunology and innate defenses, relationship of oral pathogens to systemic diseases, saliva and salivary glands, microbial pathogenesis of oral organism, bone and connective tissues ( tissues engineering ) and epidemiology ( clinical studies ). The oral biology helps to graduate successful researchers, teachers and administrators in dental school and research institutions.
