Definition and classification of dental specialists
LIU Hong-chen
Abstract：The in-depth development of China's dental healthcare has entered a phase emphasizing both quantity and quality,while undergoing a paradigm shift that balances general dental practice with specialized care.The implementation of a dental specialist system constitutes a crucial component for advancing high-quality dental healthcare.Cultivating and developing a professional cohort of dental specialists,thereby achieving specialized healthcare excellence based on comprehensive general dental practice,represents the future direction of China's stomatological development.Dental specialists,as clinical experts with extensive clinical experience and specialized skills in addressing complex dental problems,form an essential component of the professional dental workforce.Drawing from the author's participation in national specialist team development and specialist training base construction,combined with clinical practice and comparative analysis of domestic and international dental specialist systems,this study proposes a preliminary classification framework for dental specialists.Three distinct categories are identified:(1)Discipline-specific specialties,(2)Disease-specific specialties,and(3)Technique-specific specialties,with initial exploration of their respective diagnostic characteristics and interrelationships.The paper emphasizes the imperative of establishing standardized dental specialist systems across various public and private dental institutions to implement high-quality specialized care.This institutional development represents a crucial research direction for Chinese stomatology,playing an irreplaceable role in comprehensively elevating national dental healthcare standards and improving population-wide oral health.The proposed framework warrants further investigation as it holds significant implications for optimizing China's dental specialist training mechanisms and healthcare delivery models.
Keywords：stomatologyoral medicinedentistdental specialistgeneral dentist
Publication Date：2025-01-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：3( 1-3 )