DMD Vs DDS?

[MedicineNutt]

i couldnt navigate the search feature today, BUT... im wondering what's the difference between a DMD and DDS?? thanks for your time

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[ProZackMI]

i couldnt navigate the search feature today, BUT... im wondering what's the difference between a DMD and DDS?? thanks for your time

Today, there is absolutely no difference between the two degrees; however, back in the day, the DMD was often granted from a university that also housed a medical school and the dental and medical students took the same classes the first year (or maybe two?) of professional school, but then separated into their respective programs. Thus, the DMD students were more medically trained than the DDS studensts, who were often trained at dental schools that were independent or not affiliated with a medical school.

At least this is what I heard. I'm not sure this is the whole story, but it's what a friend of mine had told me once. Today, however, there is no difference in training or scope of practice. Personally, the DMD looks and sounds better than the DDS, but hey, it's a matter of opinion!

 

[MedicineNutt]

^^^thanks a whole bunch...i just noticed i placed this thread in the wrong place!! sorry about that...your post clears everything up

what programs offer DMD? dont you have to go to medical school to get this type of degree?

 

[checkamundo]

obviously the post didn't clear everything up....

You can look up on each schools website to see which degree they give out, but like ProZackMI said, there IS NO difference. Med school gives out the regular MD but that's completely different than DDS or DMD. If you want to become a dentist, a DMD or DDS means the same. So basically what I'm saying is to not worry about which ones are DDS or DMD.

 

[ProZackMI]

^^^thanks a whole bunch...i just noticed i placed this thread in the wrong place!! sorry about that...your post clears everything up

what programs offer DMD? dont you have to go to medical school to get this type of degree?

No, the DMD is a dental degree, not a medical degree, so you would not go to medical school. Historically, the DMD was awarded by dental schools affiliated with medical schools, and they often shared classes and faculty, but the programs were separate, as were the degrees.

Harvard, I believe, was the first dental school to grant the DMD designation where other schools had awarded the DDS. Why the difference? Harvard, being the pretentious school that it is, used to award all of its degrees in Latin.

Thus, you will see Harvard grads with AB and AM degrees (Artus Baccalaureate and Artus Magister -- or Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts). The PhD is automatically given the Latin abbreviation (Philosophae Doctor) as is the MD (Medicinae Doctor) and the JD (Juris Doctor). So, when it came time to grant the dental degree, the best solution Harvard could come up with was DMD (Dentae Medicinae Doctor). For some reason, trying to do the Latin version of DDS would have messed things up as DDS = Doctor of Dental Surgery. In Latin, Surgery is Chirguriae (or something like that, but it starts with a "c"), so DMD sounded better than DDC or CDD or however it would have been in Latin.

An interesting side note, most universities (and in fact, most schools) felt the Latin names of degrees were too pretentious, so they awarded degrees with their English titles; e.g., Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Science, etc. Most law schools, however, retained the Latin version of their degree "Juris Doctor" rather than the Doctor of Law/Doctor of Jurisprudence, which is the English translation. You gotta love those lawyers.

 

[lexx0213]

I get from this thread that there is no difference btwn DMD and a DDS but out of curiousity, have there been differences in how people/ patients interpret the degrees? or preference to a dentist with a particular degree?

 

[armorshell]

Every repost is a repost repost, even in the completely wrong forum. If you type "DDS DMD" into any search box on this website, or GOOGLE, you will get 15 threads with the exact same title as this. Try harder.