I had never lived in Germany. When I came to Turkey, I was really surprised, because here there is no “dental physician”, there is “dentist”. So what does a dentist do? He extracts teeth, places fillings, performs implants, cleans teeth, does root canal treatments, improves smiles, places crowns, builds bridges, etc… But I already do all of these. So what am I? A dentist or a dental physician?

Think about it: a thoracic surgeon performs all surgeries within his field, a cardiovascular surgeon as well. So why are they not called “chest specialist” or “heart specialist” in everyday language? This question really bothered me, I won’t lie, I even felt a bit offended.

It turns out that in Turkey, dentistry used to be a profession passed from father to son. In the past, fathers solved dental problems in their own way and passed their solutions on to their sons. Over time, this became known as “dentistry” as a profession. But it is not that simple.

How so? We also study dentistry at the same level as medical faculties. During this 5-year education, we study not only teeth but all medical sciences so that we can create the correct treatment plan according to the patient’s health condition. Just like other doctors, we determine our specialties. We specialize in orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, implantology, and oral and maxillofacial surgery. But as far as I see, our education is not taken very seriously. Moreover, in a normal surgery there is an anesthesiologist and a separate surgeon, but we often act as both, deciding how much of which area should be numbed, performing oral surgery, placing implants, and suturing.

With the prosthetics and bridges we make, we ensure proper nutrition. And we design perhaps the most important identity feature that defines how memorable you are in social life: your smile.

So please don’t belittle us by just saying “dentist”. We are dental physicians. And honestly, don’t go to a “dentist”, go to a dental physician instead.