Stomatology Vs Dentistry
In daily life, ordinary people often think that going to the dentist is the same as going to the dentist, but there is only a stomatology department in the hospital. Some people even don't understand why trauma on the face needs to go to the dentistry department for treatment. Now let's talk about the difference between stomatology and dentistry.
-dental-
Usually, the department of stomatology includes dentistry, which is mainly a department for examining and treating teeth and periodontal diseases, such as dental disease, periodontal disease, tooth extraction, dentures, orthodontics, implant restoration, etc.
-Stomatology-
Usually, the department of stomatology includes dentistry. In addition to treating dental diseases, the department of stomatology also treats diseases contained in the entire oral cavity, such as oral mucosa, lips, tongue, upper and lower jaws, and jaws, such as lip-tongue frenulum, oral mucosal diseases, Maxillofacial cysts and tumors, salivary gland tumors, maxillofacial trauma and fractures, dental and maxillofacial deformities, temporomandibular joint pain, facial trigeminal neuralgia, etc.
Stomatology can include more diseases, especially for oral and maxillofacial tumors and tumor-like diseases, and even some facial diseases, with more professional and accurate diagnosis and treatment techniques.
-Evolution from Dentistry to Stomatology-
To understand the difference between dentistry and stomatology, we need to start with the history of stomatology.
The development of stomatology, from the era of witch doctors, through the practice of disease observation and treatment, has continued to deepen, and reached the era of modern stomatology based on biological science and engineering. It has roughly experienced four development periods.
In the early days, dentists were only people with the skills to treat dental diseases, that is, dental craftsmen. This was the primitive period of dentists. During this period, few medical specialists were interested in oral health issues, and dental diseases and treatments were kept outside the gates of medicine. Although some excellent physicians and surgeons sometimes treat dignitaries, but in general, dental treatment is done by barbers and some non-medical people (dentists). There is another reason for this situation. At that time, physicians tended to use a slow and painful method to extract teeth, while dentists did it quickly, so patients with dental diseases were more willing to turn to these people, which promoted the development of dentistry and medicine. separation.
In the 16th century, anatomy, microbiology and other fields of science made great progress, providing a solid foundation for the scientific and professionalization of dental treatment. French doctor Pierre Fauchard, known as the father of dentists, published the world's first dental monograph "Surgical Dentistry" in 1928. He separated dentists from surgery and became an independent profession, which he called dentistry. Surgeon, laid the foundation of modern dentistry.
The rapid development of modern dentistry was in the third period, marked by the founding of the first dental school in Maryland by Haydan and Harris in the United States in 1840—Baltimore Dental Academy. After the independence of dentistry from the medical school, all countries in the world have established dental schools or dental departments. In 1917, the first school of dentistry in China (School of Dentistry of West China Union University) was established. Because the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of dentistry, as well as the methods, means and equipment used from diagnosis to treatment are very different from medicine, the independence of dentistry from the medical school has created conditions for the rapid development of dentistry. Dental treatment is mainly tooth extraction, filling and denture. Initially, these treatments consisted of extractions and dentures, which at the time were made of vulcanized rubber. From 1840 to the middle of the 20th century, the basic theory and biological foundation of modern dentistry were established.
By the middle of the 20th century, due to the wide application of polymer materials, the popularization of ultra-fast turbines and the promotion of panoramic X-ray images, the development of modern dentistry reached its peak. Dentistry has become an independent profession and has been widely recognized by society and medical circles. It can be said that without the independence of dentistry, there would be no development of dentistry today. Since the middle of the 20th century, the development of biology and medicine has profoundly affected the development of dentistry. The development of dentistry began to go beyond the category of diseases of the teeth themselves, such as the research and treatment of temporomandibular joint diseases, and expanded from teeth to masticatory organs and the oral and jaw system. Toothache and facial pain have led to research on the nerves and psychology of oral organs, and research on the etiology of caries has extended to the diagnosis and treatment of saliva and salivary gland diseases. Of course, dentists should diagnose and treat oral mucosal diseases. In the middle of the 20th century, some countries such as the former Soviet Union and China officially renamed the Department of Dentistry as the Department of Stomatology, and the Department of Oral Surgery as Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Oral and maxillofacial diseases, including tumors, plastic surgery, and trauma, have achieved unprecedented development in the Department of Stomatology, forming a unique stomatology in China.
Teeth are the core of stomatology, and more than 90% of the diagnosis and treatment in daily stomatology are related to teeth. The characteristics of the tissue structure of teeth lead to the particularity of dental diseases. The growth and development of teeth and the occlusal arrangement cause diseases of adjacent organs, and are also restricted and affected by adjacent organs. Teeth are the hardest tissues in the body, and the enamel on the surface of the crown is the hardest. It can withstand countless daily collisions for decades with only a small amount of wear and tear, function and last for a lifetime. However, enamel is easily damaged, and there are small pits and fissures on the surface, which are places where bacteria are easy to breed and where caries is prone to occur.
The pulp cavity is located in the deep layer of the dentin, surrounded by the hard tissue of the tooth, and communicates with the outside world only through the narrow apical foramen. Therefore, when inflammation occurs, the pressure in the pulp increases, causing severe pain, and the pulp tissue is also prone to damage. necrosis. The nerve endings in the dental pulp only have pain receptors, but no positioning receptors. Therefore, no matter cold, hot, sour, sweet, touch pressure, etc., any stimulation will cause a pain response and lack the positioning ability. Therefore, "toothache" is almost the only complaint of every patient who visits the stomatology department.
There are two sets of teeth in life, deciduous teeth and permanent teeth. Deciduous and permanent teeth alternate according to a certain rule. If this rule or a certain link occurs, diseases will occur, such as malocclusion. Compared with other diseases in medicine, malocclusion has many differences in the causes, diagnosis methods, and treatment methods. Orthodontics is the discipline that solves malocclusion. not only orthodontics
There are 28 to 32 permanent teeth, while other human organs have at most two. This quantitative difference determines that its incidence must be high. Oral disease is the third leading chronic non-communicable disease in the world after cancer and cardiovascular disease. A person can live without seeing a cardiologist, dentist, and endocrinologist, but it is impossible not to contact a dentist.
One of the characteristics of stomatology, which is also different from other medical disciplines, is that it not only has the same basis of biological science as medicine, but also requires a basis of science and engineering. The treatment of oral diseases often uses metal materials, polymer plastics, ceramics, etc. to restore the tooth body and dentition.
Stomatology is a part of medicine, but it is obviously different from many other disciplines of medicine and has its own characteristics. Dentistry, like other medicines, is a discipline of science plus medical experience plus technique, but unlike any other discipline in medicine, dentistry makes so much use of aesthetics, skill and craft. Stomatology is the earliest and bravest pioneer of engineering, and it is the first discipline in which human beings make and apply artificial organs—denture restoration.
The human body is the most beautiful object in nature's creation. The face is a collection of exquisite human body, and the oral and maxillofacial area is the highlight of the exquisite appearance. The oral and maxillofacial area is the part with the largest number of muscle groups per unit area of the human body, and it is also the part with the most complex structure and organization of the human body; the highest achievement of biological evolution; human The language of thought expression and the expression of human emotion expression are mainly presented in the oral and maxillofacial parts.
