I made a post about this a while back. It was in the "osteopathic" forum of all places. To provide context, someone ask if DMD=DDS is analogous to MD=DO. There were a few errors in the responses. So the post that I made tried to answer the question (the answer is no) while correcting the errors that were made.
Here is the link, followed by my post made on 10/01/03.
group_theory
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=84091&highlight=DMD
I agree in part and disagree in part to what JKDMed have stated.
The argument brought before this thread is whether it is correct to assume that the analogy of DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine) is to DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) as DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) is to MD (Doctor of Medicine).
As drusso stated and affirmed by JKDMed, the DDS and DMD are the same degree. There is no inherent differences in philosophy, education, accreditation, curriculum, etc. The DO degree is meant to convey that the holder graduated from a different school of medicine, one that has a distinct philosophy, education, accreditation, curriculum to the conventional allopathic school of medicine (MD). Hence the US DO degree, the professional and legal equivalent to a US MD degree, is not the same degree.
JKDMed argued that the difference between DDS and DMD is in their latin spelling on the diploma. His argument, to make an analogy, is similar to the differences between a BA and AB, where the BA stands for Bachelor of Arts, and the AB stands for "Artium Baccalaureus". I disagree with his reasoning.
The latin translation of Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) is "Dentiste Medicinae Doctor", hence the DMD designation. The latin translation of Doctor of Dental Surgery is "Chirurgae Dentium Doctoris" or C.D.D if going by latin abbreviation. Ergo DMD is not the latin abbreviation for the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree.
The origin of the two different dental degrees originate in the 19th century. At the time, all dental schools conferred the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree (medicine and surgery were seperate discipline at the time). Harvard, which had a dental school awarded the DDS degree. However, since Harvard had a tradition of naming their degrees in latin, Harvard dental graduates held the C.D.D. initial in lieu of the DDS. Harvard decided to rename their degree "Dentiste Medicinae Doctor", to help their graduates while preserving their tradition of latin abbreviation. So the DMD is the latin abbreviation for Doctor of Dental Medicine (instead of DDM). This differ from JKDMed's arguement in that he argued that DMD was the latin abbreviation for the DDS. There was an actual name change in the degree which he failed to mention.
At the turn of the century, there were 57 dental schools in the United States, but only Harvard and Oregon awarded the DMD degree. As of 1989, 23 of 66 US Dental Schools and about half of Canadian Dental Schools confer the Dentiste Medicinae Doctor degree.
For the above stated reasons, the DDS and DMD are the same degree (different name) while the DO and MD degrees are equivalent but not the same.
References:
Crawford, P.R., "To be or not to be: DDS or DMD" Journal of the Canadian Dental Association (August 1989) 55(8):639-640.
Griggs, D., "The DDS vs. DMD situation" Journal of the American Dental Association (April 1974) 88(4):691-693.
Hillenbrand, H., "DDS or DMD: The glacial period" Journal of Dental Education (July 1972) 36(7):3.
Letter to the Editor, "The DDS-DMD issue" Journal of the American Dental Association (June 1974) 88(6):1241.
Robinson J.B., "DDS or DMD: Footnotes to dental history" Journal of Dental Education (January 1973) 37(1):17-20.
