Stomatology, as well as dentistry, is a medical and surgical science that covers the study of the oral cavity, including teeth1 and adjoining tissues2.

The difference in France between stomatology and dentistry lay in the curriculum. Stomatology was a specialty of the general medicine curriculum. As for odontology, this one consists of a course of study in its own right and independent of the classical course of general medicine. However the two entities intertwine and both are used to train professionals equally and duly qualified for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of oral diseases.

In the vast majority of countries of the European Union stomatology does not exist as a specialty of the curriculum of general medicine, it is odontology as well as specialties such as oral surgery and oral medicine that provide it. In France, lack of equivalence within the European Union, stomatology also disappeared in 2011 to the benefit of odontology and new specialties common to the course of dentistry and that of general medicine namely Oral Medicine and Oral Surgery3. Thus, a student who has completed the course of general medicine and wants to specialize in the organ of the mouth can do it through the specialties of Oral Surgery3 and / or Oral Medicine. And a student who has completed the course of dentistry and wants to improve his knowledge can also do it through these same specialties of Oral Surgery3 and / or Oral Medicine.

The stomatologist or stomatologist was a medical specialist qualified to practice stomatology4. Holder of a doctorate in medicine in France, he ensures the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of congenital or acquired diseases, real or supposed, of the mouth and adjacent tissues2. The practice of stomatology covers oral surgery, implantology, oral dermatology, salivary pathologies, oncology pathologies as well as dental pathologies.