dentistry

Etymology

From dentist + -ry.

noun

1. (uncountable) The field of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of conditions of the teeth and oral cavity.
   Some provision should be made for the truly suffering poor, and also for our present students of dentistry to learn something about dental surgery before commencing a profession which has almost become a science. 1905, Australian journal of dentistry, volume 9, Australian Dental Association, page 184
   A corporation may not operate a dentistry office unless all of its stockholders are licensed to practice dentistry. 1957, West's Wisconsin statutes annotated, West Publishing Company
   He was born near Middleton in 1853, graduated from Mount Allison, and took his dentistry degree at Philadelphia in 1878. 1997, P.B. Waite, The Lives of Dalhousie University, volume II: 1925-198, page 24
   Wig-workers were not the only tradesmen who practiced dentistry on the side, or "assumed the role" of dentist, as the arrival of a thespian dentist from London attests in this ad from Boston's Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser 2000, James Wynbrandt, The excruciating history of dentistry, page 81
2. (uncountable) Operations performed on teeth and adjoining areas such as drilling, filling cavities, and placing crowns and bridges.
   POOR Australians are resorting to do-it-yourself dentistry, including filing their own teeth and attempting their own extractions, because of lengthy queues for public dental services. 2009, Siobhain Ryan, “Poor access leads to DIY dentistry: dental checks”, in The Australian, sourced from Dow Jones Newswires
   This patient is an out-of-town physician who had to wait until retirement to complete his dentistry. He had holding pattern type dentistry done to get him by. 2011, Gregory J. Tarantola, Clinical Cases in Restorative and Reconstructive Dentistry
3. (countable) A dental surgery, an operation on the teeth.
   Dr. Landsberg, of Posen, states that when children's teeth are put in order by means of school dentistries, anaemia, one of the most frequent school diseases, will be greatly diminished. 1908, in the report of the Second International Congress on School Hygiene, volume 2, page 516
   I speak now only of your pet's bad breath. Dentistries will specifically improve the oral health of the pet as well as its overall health in the long term. 2004, Gene Witiak, True Confessions of a Veterinarian: An Unconditional Love Story, page 83
4. (countable) A place where dental operations are performed. (Not as common as "dentist's office". Compare surgery.)
   They are very fond of sweet things; and the ladies especially crowd the “candystores,” which are not less numerous than the dentistries—with which business they are intimately connected. 1867, Macmillan's Magazine, volume 16, page 464
   The author could dilate at great length on the possibilities in plant groceries, restaurants, and dentistries. 1918, Edward Bernard Benjamin, The larger liberalism, page 172
   As a first step, the law with be amended to prepare for the privatization of pharmacies and dentistries by end-2003. 2003, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: First Review