STOMATOLOGY: A PROBLEM IN EDUCATION

Public service as well as advance of knowledge demands a modification of the traditional definitions of medicine and dentistry. At present conventional medicine leaves the oral cavity to dentistry, and dentistry, largely a technical procedure concerned with the preservation and restoration of tooth structure, does not adequately supplement medical science. Between the two professions is a neglected field: the study of oral tissues and processes as integral parts of the human organism; one for want of a better term known as stomatology. This field is known to hold the key to problems vital to both medicine and dentistry. By tradition it is the province of dentistry; by nature it is a part of medicine. Until now it has been comparatively ignored in both educational and research effort. Thus the arbitrary boundary between the two professions is in effect a barrier to the progress of medical science. Stomatology, if the term