how many years does it take to become a cosmetic dentist?
Monday, March 29th, 2010 at
12:02 am
including college, dental school, and specialty training
Tagged with: dental school • google • including college • script type • specialty training • text javascript
Filed under: Continuing Dental Education Courses
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There is no such thing as a cosmetic dentist.
The American Dental Association recognizes specialties based on public need, direct benefit from patient care, and distinctiveness from the services of general dentists. To date, the ADA has recognized nine specialties, as follows:
Prosthodontics – restoration and replacement of teeth
Periodontics – diagnosis and treatment of gum disease
Orthodontics – correction of misaligned teeth and jaws
Pediatrics – care for infants and children through adolescence
Oral Surgery – Dealing with problem wisdom teeth, facial pain and misaligned jaws
Endodontics – Saving teeth through root canal treatment
Oral Pathology – Treating diseases affecting oral and facial regions
Public Health – caring for special population groups within communities and institutions
Oral Radiology – diagnostic assessment of diseases of the head and neck
Dentists with additional training in these specialty areas can call themselves specialists. All other dentists are ‘general dentists’.
So to answer your question, it takes four years of college and four years of dental school to become a general dentist. When one becomes a general dentist, they can begin to offer cosmetically-oriented treatments such as whitening, bonding, veneers and implants.
There is an organization known as the American Association of Cosmetic Dentistry. This organization has developed a test of skills it deems necessary for ‘Accreditation in Cosmetic Dentistry’. If a general dentist can pass both the written and the ‘Board of Examiners’ test, and meets the other membership requirements, that dentist can become ‘Accredited’ by the AACD.
However, one does not need to become accredited to offer whitening, veneers and the other services usually attributed to cosmetic dentistry. And if you wish to promote the cosmetic aspect of a dental practice, that’s fine, but you cannot imply that you are a ‘cosmetic dentist’ or have some superiority over a ‘general dentist’ when there is no such recognized specialty.
You can claim that you are an AACD Accredited member, if you pass the accreditation tests, but the public by and large does not understand the difference. Most could not tell you the difference between an AACD General Member, Sustaining Member, Accredited Member and Fellow…..but to be a general member, you do not need to have any demonstrated proficiency beyond being a general dentist.
i don’t know my advice yahoo search it and im sure the answer will be right there!
I don’t know either, but I would like to say that I too am interested in becoming a cosmetic dentist. it is encouraging to know that other people want this too. it just seems like the best job possible to me, since I want to be a doctor or some type. Think about it, you get the title doctor but you don’t have the possibility of killing your patients, and the grossest thing you will do is a root canal or something. WHAT A FANTASTIC JOB!!!!!
good luck on your query!
There is a load of information about cosmetic dentistry at http://www.bacd.com witch is the web site for the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
Thankyou lots, I have found this info extremely good!