General Dentistry

An Overall Expert

You may wonder what a ‘general dentist’ is able to do. According to the Academy of General Dentistry, your general dentist is a primary dental care provider, for patients of all ages. He or she handles diagnosis, treatment, management, and coordination of all services that relate to your oral health. As a dental expert, he or she is highly trained in all relevant procedures, yet has chosen to remain unspecialized in any one particular area of dentistry. That means that with one phone call, you have access to a tremendous resource of information, including the most popular consumer topic: keeping your smile healthy and bright.

Specifically, general dentists perform all of the following services:

• Amalgam and Composite Fillings
  
• Teeth Cleanings
  
• Cosmetic Dentistry
  
• Root Canal Therapy
  
• Sealants
  
• Oral Surgery
  
• Treatment of Gum Disease
  
• TMD/TMJ Therapy
  
• Pediatric Dentistry
  
• Orthodontics
  
• Crowns and Bridges
  
• Dentures and Partial Dentures
  
• Dental Implants
  
• Mouthguards
  

An Organization for Excellence

If your dentist belongs to the Academy of General Dentistry, he or she is part of a well-respected group of dentists, committed to excellence as defined by completing at least 75 hours of continuing education every three years. A non-profit international organization of 35,000 dentists from the United States, its territories and Canada, the Academy is dedicated to “supporting and serving the needs and representing the interests of general dentists and to foster their continued proficiency through quality continuing dental education in order to best serve the public."

Established in 1952 by dentists, the Academy is still the only such organization governed by dentists, exclusively representing the interests of general dentists. As such, it makes every effort to promote public awareness of dental health and works to preserve the dentist/patient relationship, promoting freedom of choice and helping consumers make educated decisions. You can find a wealth of dental health information through the Academy, posting your questions online at www.adg.org/ or via their toll-free dental hotline “SmileLine”.

Of course it just makes sense that the Academy is nationally recognized as the source for continuing education credits, also offering courses, recording credits, and monitoring credits earned.

Ongoing Dedication

As you can imagine, membership in the Academy tells you many things about your dentist. It means that he or she is dedicated to continuing education, keeping up with the latest procedures and technologies, research discoveries, and treatments. This means he or she can offer you a wide variety of choices in your diagnosis and treatment, and is committed to keeping you informed of dentistry advances that affect you as well. Further, an Academy dentist never stops learning, averaging 40 or more hours of continuing education per year, according to surveys.

Masterful Fellows

Over 10,000 dentists, or around ten percent of all general dentists, have also earned what’s known as an Academy of General Dentistry Fellowship and Mastership. Qualification for this involves a minimum of 500 credit hours of continuing education, plus passing a comprehensive 400- question exam. Further, they must be members of the Academy for at least 5 consecutive years, be recognized as leaders by other general dentists, and serve as examples in continuing education and patient care. Also, they must have completed a total of 1100 hours of continuing education, achieved their fellowship, and completed an extra 600 hours of continuing education, 400 of which must be hands-on courses. And finally, they are to have studied all 16 general dentistry disciplines, including periodontics, orthodontics, and implants.

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