Dentistry is a branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, commonly in the dentition but also the oral mucosa, and of adjacent and related structures and tissues, particularly in the maxillofacial area.
Although primarily associated with teeth among the general public, the field of dentistry or dental medicine is not limited to teeth but includes other aspects of the craniofacial complex. The term dentistry comes from odontology – the study of the structure, development, and abnormalities of the teeth. Because of their substantial overlap in concept, dentistry is often also understood to subsume the specialty of stomatology.
