A Lot Of Us Never Take Much Notice Of Medical Matters Until Have An Effect On Us, But Then It Is Impressive How Much Can Be Learned Very Quickly
Having never been particularly good at human biology, I have to admit that the only medical names I’m really know anything about are those that I’ve found out about due to personal experience. I’m lucky that I don’t currently have too many health problems myself, but I definitely have friends who suffer from various health problems.
Recently I realised at how non-existent my medical awareness was when I got a phone call from my employment agency offering me a temporary job at a podiatrist’s office. ‘I think it’s to do with feet’ was all of the description that the member of staff at the agency could provide, so once I had finished the call I thought that I ought to investigate. My first thought was that it was usually a chiropodist who did things with feet, and apparently I am not the only person under that impression. But it seems that now the preferred term for those who give advice topeople about their feet and lower legs is a podiatrist. I’ve no idea why this renaming of the title of the profession was required, but the NHS website assures me that there is no difference between the two.
So then I started wondering about other medical names. Exactly what is the difference between a dentist and an orthodontist? I’ve only ever visited a dentist to have a few fillings and a couple of crowns. But this time there is a difference between the two, as I found out when an acquaintance started a new job as a dental receptionist. A dentist completes work on the teeth and gums, generally things like sorting out damaged teeth, treating tooth decay and advising with hygiene issues which can make the gums unhealthy.
An orthodontist starts off by training as a dentist, but then proceeds to additional studies to learn about jaw and tooth alignment, so they undertake work such as fixing braces to sort out the problem of crooked teeth. This could explain why I didn’t previously know what the difference was. When I was young, very few children ever had braces for their teeth, whereas nowadays it looks like almost all children have them at some point. I must assume that the idea has become more common as each generation gets more obsessed with physical looks and putting right defects as soon as possible.
Another subject where I had no clue until recently is the treatment of eye problems. Optician and ophthalmologist, identical – right? No, completely wrong, as I’ve found out since an elderly friend was referred for Laser eye surgery. To start with, she had an appointment with an optician for a basic eye test and this is when her vision problems were diagnosed. The optician discussed the various options for treatment, amongst which was Laser eye treatment, but advised that as an optician he would not be able to administer the treatment himself. So he wrote a referral to her GP, who then had to send on the referral to the Ophthalmology Department at the nearest hospital so that she could have the operation.
By this point, I’d done some research and found out what has now become quite obvious – that the ophthalmologist is the specialist who can carry out the conventional and Laser eye surgery operations, whereas the optician is basically able to test the eyes and diagnose any conditions. Simple problems including needing a prescription for glasses can be processed by the optician. More difficult problems which call for Laser eye treatment, conventional surgery or other medical intervention do need to be seen by an ophthalmologist.
So I’ve managed to improve my medical knowledge a little recently in the light of events connected to me or to people I know. It’s proof that it’s a great deal easier to learn and take things in if they have had an effect on you, rather than just reading a book or looking for information online. Having said that, I’m more then happy to continue to be ignorant about a number of the more unpleasant areas of medicine if it means that nobody that I know has to suffer from serious health problems!
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