Doctors Every Family Should Have Available

Assuring You’ve Got All The Medical Help You Need

There are a variety of doctors that a family should be able to access, even among what are colloquially defined as general practitioners. HealthPartners.com identifies five key categories, including: internal medicine doctors for adults and children, pediatricians generally, family medicine doctors, and OB-GYNs.

However, these are just generalized medical professionals, and a few other categories exist that you would be wise to be familiar with. These include ENTs, optometrists, and orthopedic professionals. We’ll briefly go over all three categories here.

Optometrists

Eye doctors are most necessary in early life and later life. Those who have good vision generally won’t really need optometrists to provide them with solutions until later life. Those with vision issues early on will benefit from optometrist directives. Once you’re in the “prime” of life, things get a little bit easier.

As you age, your eyes tend to wear out. It’s a consequence of bodily decline. Even the most eagle-eyed individuals tend to lose vision as they get older. Accordingly, it’s a good idea to find an optometrist when you get married—even before you have kids. When the children come, you’ll have the help, and as you age, you’ll be able to keep your vision clear.

ENTs, Or “Otolaryngologists”

Ear, Nose and Throat doctors are called otolaryngologists—which is why ENT is a more preferable term. This ENT doctor at North Texas facilities is a prime example of an otolaryngologist. Essentially, these practitioners specialize in ear issues, nose issues, and throat issues—especially as regards the sinuses which link them.

Sinus passages are throughout your head, and they can become inflamed. Another example of an ENT would be this Connecticut Sinus Center—if you’re nowhere near Texas, here’s another option for you. When you’re sick enough, you can get a sinus infection, and you might need a mild procedure like balloon sinuplasty.

Also, for families especially, earaches tend to be common. Wind or fluids get in the ear of your child, and then bacteria “sets up shop”, if you will, causing painful inflammation. Antibiotics tend to be necessary, but a bad enough earache could require more in-depth attention. Likely, this will be the primary reason a family visits an ENT: one of the kids gets a bad earache.

Orthopedic Professionals

Orthopedic professionals provide solutions for individuals experiencing musculoskeletal issues. Back pain, leg pain, bone issues generally, muscular issues like cramps or spasms—these are the things orthopedic doctors will be able to provide solutions for.

As children grow, they’re going to have “growing pains”. This is a musculoskeletal issue that is common, and one that you don’t need to worry about—unless, of course, there’s some other musculoskeletal issue that is causing physical weakness and growth deformities.

Beyond that, you also want to think about broken bones and sprains. Especially if you’ve got boys, you’re likely going to see at least one broken bone per male. Possibly they’ll grow up without breaking anything, but young boys tend to break something eventually.

Having The Right Medical Help When You Need It

Orthopedic professionals, ENTS, and optometrists are a few practitioners with specialties worth having available for family needs. General practitioners, pediatricians, and OB/GYNs have their place, but as your child grows, the professionals listed here will likely be the kind you want available in a hurry.

Even if your family isn’t traditional and doesn’t have any younger members, these three non-general medical groups are worth acquiring. So if you don’t have doctors in these categories you trust presently, you might want to fix that.