Choosing the Right Doctor

by Thomas C. Fiel, D.O.

The list of the different types of physicians seems endless. These are a few helpful hints on how to find the right physician for the medical or health condition that you are suffering from.

For teeth, start with your dentist. There are several different subspecialties under dentistry, but your dentist can make the appropriate medical referral if they feel it is warranted.

For joints and bones there are doctors of chiropractic, osteopathathic doctors, and orthopedic doctors. The chiropractic doctors are considered conservative and their treatment centers around spinal function and its relationship to the rest of the body. Osteopathic and orthopedic physicians are generally less conservative and are licensed to give prescriptions and perform surgery. It is not uncommon these days to see osteopathic doctors dealing with more than joints and bones. They may be in general practice or performing body enhancing surgeries. For internal disorders, there are health care professionals of internal medicine, called internists. This is an area of medicine that warrants more classifications of specialists that deal with the more specific elements of your body's internal functions, i.e... gastroenterologists, urologists, endocrinologists, etc.

Doctors specializing in the heart are called cardiologists. As with most other specialties, there are numerous subspecialties for the area of the heart, but your cardiologist can refer you to the appropriate physician if necessary.

For muscles, there are physical therapists and massage therapists. In general, physical therapists retrain muscles after injuries and massage therapists help balance the muscles by massage.

For mental distress, there are psychologists, counselors and psychiatrists. A psychologist is a doctor of psychology. Most psychologists specialize in testing, but this is not always the case. A counselor usually has a Masters degree in counseling and these are the people who do most of the talk therapy in this country. Psychiatrists rarely engage in talk therapy and focus mainly on diagnosis and prescribing appropriate medication. It is not unusual for all these mental health care professionals to work together on one case.

A good place to start to look for the proper health care professional for a particular problem is with your favorite general practitioner. Sometimes it is hard to know which body system is having difficulty and therefore, it is hard to know what type of doctor to see. Your general practitioner should be able to help you sort this out.

Our service is unique in that we offer numerous disciplines that are available in one place. Each health care staff member is aware of each other's area of expertise and therefore we can always guide you to the appropriate level of care, whether that is of a medical nature, an emotional concern, or a combination of both.

Dr. Thomas C. Fiel, DO

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