General dentistry and oral medicine in the hospital.

General dentistry in a hospital should not be confined to restorative dentistry happens to be performed in a hospital dental clinic. In addition to expertise in restorative dentistry and other dental specialties, general practitioners participating in hospital programs must also be students of two major areas-- diagnosis of diseases involving the head and neck as well as dental management of patients with severe medical disease. In the preceding short review a few examples of disorders about which the hospital dentist may be consulted were reviewed along with the proper protocol for requesting and answering consultations. This list is necessarily short and incomplete. A different group of disorders could have been discussed in this article. The competent hospital dentist must be a continual student of disease and its possible effect upon dental treatment and oral diagnosis. The task is formidable but rewarding and interesting.