Hans Lennros wrote in message ...
>Hopefully you are not since you, as a dentist, do it on a daily routin
basis.
>Or at least should, if you are a good one.
Actually, Joel is perfectly correct as far as things go in the US. A
dentist can lose his license for treating a systemic illness (and face
litigation to boot). If Joel determined that a patient was suffering from a
migraine and not a dental abscess, his job stops there. He then is
obligated to refer the patient to a neurologist.
Similarly, removing amalgam restorations to treat a systemic illness (like
multiple sclerosis) is considering treating an illness out of the scope of
dental practice. Treating a medical emergency is within the scope of the
dentist as far as a dentist is trained. After a certain point the patient
has to be turned over to the correct medical practitioners to finish the job
or to follow-up.
True, the line can be fuzzy, but most of the time it is pretty clear what
range of ailments a dentist in the US can treat and what he has no legal
right to treat.
