the only time ive had to check for a function is with ati's GL_ATIX_PN_TRIANGLES also called GL_ATI_PN_TRIANGLES which isn't in the extention list when it should be, so checking if the function glPNTrianglesiATI was available was the only way to see if i could use the extention.
In most cases you should just be able to check for the extention (or check your opengl version number as in the multitexture case if its later than 1.2.1 it must be there)


