Simple! There is little to no talk about the oral cavity, oral health, or dental issues in Medical School. There are some specialties that have some overlap with oral conditions (think ENT, some dermatology, etc), but as someone who went to both dental school and medical school (and have offered to give talks at med schools), there is little to no interest in the medical field for dental knowledge. I am certainly not pointing fingers, or taking a swipe at medicine – there is simply not enough time in the curriculum to do everything. For that reason, they tend to defer that part of the body to us in the dental field!

So, if your medical team notices something in and around your mouth that is concerning to them, please see a dentist.

With that said, when we run across a Emergency Doc or Primary Care team member who knows tooth numbers or some dental terminology, it knocks our socks off! We love seeing our colleagues go the extra mile to learn more!