What are the Branches of Dentistry?

Dentistry is a long 5-years course (4 years + 1 year intership) with a lot of fascinating diseases of its own. An individual's mouth may inhabit a number of problems one can never imagine. With such a vast area of study comes a lot of branches which specialize in different areas of expertise and are sometimes inter-dependent on each other. There are 9 branches in Dentistry and are explained in short below-  

1. Endodontics: Endodontics is the branch of dentistry concerning dental pulp and tissues surrounding the roots of a tooth. “Endo” means “inside” and “odont” is for “tooth.” Endodontic treatment, or root canal treatment, treats the soft pulp tissue inside the tooth. E.g. Tooth Filling 

A person specializing in Endodontics is known as an Endodontist.

2. Orthodontics: It focuses on the bite – how teeth meet and function, how they are aligned, how they are set in the jaws, and the positioning and sizes of the upper and lower jaws. E.g. Braces

A person specializing in Orthodontics is known as an Orthodontist.

3. Conservative Dentistry: Concerned with the conservation of teeth in the mouth. Main role of conservative dentist is in diagnosis and treatment of dental plaque, infections and cavities, with little loss of teeth structure. E.g. Root Canal Treatment (RCT)

A person specializing in this field is known as an Endodontist.

4. Prosthodontics: Concerned with the design, manufacture, and fitting of artificial replacements for teeth and other parts of the mouth. E.g. Dental Implants, Cosmetics, Crowns, Bridges, Dentures.

A person specializing in this field is known as a Prosthodontist.

5. Pediatric Dentistry: Dedicated to the oral health of children from infancy through the teen years. E.g. Straightening teeth and correcting an improper bite, Care for fractured, displaced, or knocked-out teeth in children, Disease prevention.

A person specializing in this field is known as a Pediatric Dentist or Pedodontist.

6. Periodontics: Specialty of dentistry that studies supporting structures of teeth, as well as diseases and conditions that affect them (gingiva/gums, cementum, alveolar bone, pdl)

A person specializing in this field is known as a Periodontist.

7. Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery: Often seen as the bridge between medicine and dentistry, it is the surgical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the mouth, jaws, face and neck. E.g. Facial injuries, head and neck cancers, salivary gland diseases, facial asymmetry, facial pain, impacted teeth, cysts.

A person specializing in this field is known as an Oral Surgeon.

8. Oral Medicine & Radiology: Concerned with the oral health care of patients with chronic, recurrent and medically related disorders of the oral and maxillofacial region. Facilities for Ortho-pantamo-gram (OPG), Lateral Cephalographs, Intra Oral Periapical (IOPA) radiograph and Occlusal Radiograph are available for the patient.

A person specializing in this field is known as a Radiologist.

9. Oral Pathology: Concerned with diagnosis and study of the causes and effects of diseases affecting the oral and maxillofacial region.

A person specializing in this field is known as a Pathologist.

All these branches include a lot of identification, management and treatment of various kinds of dental problems which are most of the times related to systemic illnesses i.e. disorders of the body.

A Post-Graduation degree in any branch is a 3 year course.

A graduate from any recognized dental institution can apply for Post- Graduation in these branches after appearing in NEET MDS Entrance Examination which is an annual objective type examination. The branch of choice is then alloted according to the rank and the availability of seats in that particular institution.

Here is an old graph from an article published on ResearchGate named Dental Manpower in India: changing trends since 1920 depicting the Number of post-graduate positions of Dentistry in 2014. This graph gives quite an idea about the specialities that people are more interested in opting into. Check it down below: