Dentists are doctors too!!!!

[saycheese]

I was talking to someone the other day who was curious about the whole dental application process... when to apply... who many years..etc. He started comparing medical school to dental school... associated medical school graduates to DOCTORS (ok) but... had no clue what to call dent. graduates. I just stood there....... ...

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[tinman831]

I was talking to someone the other day who was curious about the whole dental application process... when to apply... who many years..etc. He started comparing medical school to dental school... associated medical school graduates to DOCTORS (ok) but... had no clue what to call dent. graduates. I just stood there....... ...

You just stood there? Shoulda ripped him a new one

Or better yet, educate him as to what dentists can really do.

 

[duh?]

I was talking to someone the other day who was curious about the whole dental application process... when to apply... who many years..etc. He started comparing medical school to dental school... associated medical school graduates to DOCTORS (ok) but... had no clue what to call dent. graduates. I just stood there....... ...

I dunno what to say!
I think someone said in some thread that the US is one of the countries where 'lay people' don't usually realize that dentists are docs too. I'm not sure though, i read it somewhere. somebody pls correct me if i'm wrong.

So do dentists have to include the i'm a dentist part everytime they introduce themselves as "Dr.---, and people respond, "oh you're a physcian?' and they go, "no i'm a dentist!" lol!

 

[OnMyWayThere]

Doctor is misinterpreted by many... and is often used interchangeably with physician. People don't realize people can be a doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathic medicine, doctor of dental surgery, doctor of history, doctor of philosophy.... but when someone says "s/he's a doctor", it is automically assumed they are referring to a physician. So don't feel bad

 

[timthomascu05]

Doctor is misinterpreted by many... and is often used interchangeably with physician. People don't realize people can be a doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathic medicine, doctor of dental surgery, doctor of history, doctor of philosophy.... but when someone says "s/he's a doctor", it is automically assumed they are referring to a physician. So don't feel bad

Yea even Lawyers are docs J.D.

 

[food4thots]

how come they never call lawyers by dr? or do they, i never noticed.

 

[cowsgomoo]

I was talking to someone the other day who was curious about the whole dental application process... when to apply... who many years..etc. He started comparing medical school to dental school... associated medical school graduates to DOCTORS (ok) but... had no clue what to call dent. graduates. I just stood there....... ...

In a similar situation I recently had a PChem professor tell me that dentistry is a joke and that I should instead pursue a PhD or go to med school. Some people can be ignorant as hell so I wouldn’t really stress out about what other say. It’s usually the elderly or the uneducated that have these kinds of opinion now days. I mean do you really have to be called "doctor" for you to do your job. I say who cares but that’s just my opinion.

 

[phremius]

who cares? why are YOU so hung up on what other people think about your choice of profession?? get over it, move on.

 

[3rdMolarRoller]

Look on the back of some OTC medications and you will see: "Consult your doctor or dentist"

The first time I read it I was about to call and start correcting, but then as you go through life you realize title's are not all that important.

As long as my patients have respect for me and appreciate my work I don't care what they call me.

 

[TimR]

my dentist isn't a doctor.

 

[PDizzle]

If you are near an accident and someone calls out, "Help! Is anyone a doctor???", how many of us will respond??


....you will be called "dentist" and like it!

LOL

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Who cares what you’re called.

I would like to think as a Dentist I would be well trained in first aid and CPR. Additionally, I would hope my training would allow me to evaluate and an emergency situation and respond to it a calm and intelligent fashion. That said I don’t have any illusions that I will be performing emergency surgery. However, I do think that I could provide better emergency care than a lay person.

 

[PDizzle]

Who cares what you’re called.

I would like to think as a Dentist I would be well trained in first aid and CPR. Additionally, I would hope my training would allow me to evaluate and an emergency situation and respond to it a calm and intelligent fashion. That said I don’t have any illusions that I will be performing emergency surgery. However, I do think that I could provide better emergency care than a lay person.

An EMT with 8 weeks of training would be more qualified to help in an emregency then a dentist.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

That is almost certainly true and I would hope that an EMT would also respond in an emergency. And if there was a physician there than them also and any good smartens trained in first aid and CPR etc etc. That said our training will allow us to help and we should.

 

[VegasBabyVegas]

my dentist isn't a doctor.

...my dentist is a good used car salesman.

 

[dinesh]

We're not real doctors, come on it took you this long to realize it?

 

[groundhog]

An EMT with 8 weeks of training would be more qualified to help in an emregency then a dentist.

A newly minted EMT with 8 weeks training? Likley not. What really counts during the "golden hour" when life is on the line is the "hands on experience" that is acquired over a few years. An EMT with a few years experience better than a dentist in such an emergency...you bet. Also better than 90% of the physicians.

 

[1992Corolla]

A newly minted EMT with 8 weeks training? Likley not. What really counts during the "golden hour" when life is on the line is the "hands on experience" that is acquired over a few years. An EMT with a few years experience better than a dentist in such an emergency...you bet. Also better than 90% of the physicians.

True dat!

If some of you would like to be the head honcho in a huge bloody car wreck...the specialize in oral surgery. Otherwise, unless the accident victims crown fell out when his face smasked through the windshield, give a helping hand by helping the EMT

 

[ItsGavinC]

but... had no clue what to call dent. graduates. I just stood there....... ...

Ehh, dental graduates are dentists.


But seriously, we aren't doctors in the sense that the everyday public uses the word. Technically doctors are either physicians or surgeons, but the layperson has taken to simpy calling them "doctors".

 

[ItsGavinC]

And for what it's worth, I don't want to be referred to as a doctor. I'm not a doctor, I'm a dentist and proud of it.

 

[wannabedr]

If you are near an accident and someone calls out, "Help! Is anyone a doctor???", how many of us will respond??


....you will be called "dentist" and like it!

LOL

Dermatologists, radiologists, and gastroenterologist are all doctors but how many of them will be able to help out? They’ll be able to only do so much and then they will let the trained individuals do their jobs. So people should really shout out for an EMT rather than just any old “doctor”

 

[TucsonDDS]

I think that just about any EMT, new or not, would be better in a code situation that the vast majority of dentists. EMT's have a certain attitude to them that dentists don't. This isn't bad, it's just true. This is also true about a lot of doctors (um, I mean physicians) but I know a lot of doctors that I would much rather have working on my family than any EMT. I think that a dentist would do better than a grocery bagger, but only because they have hopefully had BLS.

 

[dinesh]

The origin of the word "doctor" was the Latin "docere," which meant "to teach."

I taught a kid how to do a front kick in karate...I'm a doctor!

In all seriousness, where I am at, from looking at the cirriculum dentists have to do alot of work with regard to emergency situations. I wonder if we learn how to intubate...

 

[Gargamel]

We should start a debate on the anesthesia forum. Dentists are better at managing airways than Anesthesiologists. They seem to always have this debate with ER physicians all the time. Emergency cricothyroidotomy, no problem let me get my high speed hand piece.

 

[darius99]

Emergency cricothyroidotomy, no problem let me get my high speed hand piece.

haha i think i saw mcguyver do it with a ball point pen once, so i guess that wouldnt be any worse

 

[TucsonDDS]

The origin of the word "doctor" was the Latin "docere," which meant "to teach."

I taught a kid how to do a front kick in karate...I'm a doctor!

In all seriousness, where I am at, from looking at the cirriculum dentists have to do alot of work with regard to emergency situations. I wonder if we learn how to intubate...

You will when you take ACLS

 

[timthomascu05]

how come they never call lawyers by dr? or do they, i never noticed.

The same reason that your don't call your pharmacist a doc

 

[food4thots]

where i used to volunteer, the dental assistants call dentist "master"

 

[drhobie7]

This is an interesting thread. Remember this when you pre-dents start dental school, are sick of taking 'med school' type classes, and say to each other, "Why do we have to know this information? We'll never use this". If you want to truly earn the title of 'doctor' I believe it requires you to be more than a tooth mechanic. You can't just pass your path, pharm, and medicine classes and ditch the information. You need to have this information at your disposal and be able to utilize it effectively. By no means is this easy to do, especially when we don't have clinical medicine rotations for 2 years. However, without this knowledge it's hard to see how you're not a tooth mechanic.....not that there's anything wrong with that. They do beautiful veneers!

But seriously, I think it'd be pretty weak to have to get an MD consult for every patient who is ASA II or worse, or otherwise medically compromised.

 

[dat_student]

... had no clue what to call dent. graduates...

Doctor:
1) A person, especially a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, trained in the healing arts and licensed to practice.
2) A person who has earned the highest academic degree in a specified discipline.

Physician:
A person licensed to practice medicine; a medical doctor

Dentist:
A person who is trained and licensed to practice dentistry.

[If you really like dentistry you shouldn't pay too much attention to what title you are given.]

 

[Sprgrover]

And for what it's worth, I don't want to be referred to as a doctor. I'm not a doctor, I'm a dentist and proud of it.

 

[Sprgrover]

Let's not loose sight of the fact that the term 'doctor' is quite large and a person dipping into the vernacular of lay-people for a professional definition needs to seriously evaluate his/her methods and sources before trying to engage anyone on such a topic . No, dentists are not allopathic or osteopathic doctors. No, dentists are not doctors of philosophy. Dentists are, however, regarded as doctors because they work on living tissue - both hard and soft - and they perform invasive procedures in the oral cavity, which is a structure far from simple, and let's not also forget that dentists have the ability to prescribe (a privilege that requires more than a cursory understanding of local and systemic factors in a patient).

Be comfortable in your choice in career and make sure you are choosing it for yourself and not for the adoration of others.