In addition to treating patients with drugs, surgery, and other treatments, a D.O. may emphasize movement in treating problems of muscles, bones, and joints. Family practitioners are M.D.'s or D.O.'s who specialize in providing comprehensive, continuous health care for all family members, regardless of age or sex. Geriatricians are physicians with special training in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders in older people. Geriatric medicine recognizes aging as a normal process, not a disease state. Internists do not deliver babies.
Surgeons treat diseases, injuries, and deformities by operating on the body.
A general surgeon is qualified to perform many common operations, but many specialize in one area of the body. Most of the services of M.D.'s and D.O.'s are covered by Medicare. They give regular checkups and routine dental and preventive care, fill cavities, remove teeth, provide dentures, and check for cancers in the mouth. Dentists can prescribe medication and perform oral surgery. Medicare will not pay for any dental care except for surgery on the jaw or facial bones.