DMD vs. DDS

[johnthestreak]

ok, quick disclaimer --> i don't know anything about dental school. i'm not trying to instigate anything or cause someone to get offended. this is just a pure question.

i've seen some that dentists are DDS and some are DMD. i was just wondering what the differences are between the two degrees.

thanks

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[drPheta]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50350&highlight=dmd+vs+dds

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90876&highlight=dmd+vs+dds

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=95427&highlight=dmd+vs+dds

Tada!


The magic happens here...http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search.php?s=

Welcome to the board


Oh yeah, there's also the ADA: http://www.ada.org/public/topics/dds_dmd.asp

What is the difference between a DDS and a DMD?

The DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) and DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine) are the same degrees. The difference is a matter of semantics. The majority of dental schools award the DDS degree; however, some award a DMD degree. The education and degrees are the same.

 

[rsweeney]

They are the same in the professional sense [I think] but different in the academic sense. The schools that offer each degree has a different curriculum focus. A school that offers a DMD emphasizes core courses dealing with the pathology/phisiology/anatomy of various body systems as the medical component of the DMD in addition to the courses a DDS school offers----i.e a school that offers a DMD may have a course in neuroanatomy wheras a DDS school may not. Go to school websites and check it out. UNC offers a DDS and UConn offers a DMD---look at the two curricula and you'll see the differences.

-Richard

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by rsweeney
They are the same in the professional sense [I think] but different in the academic sense. The schools that offer each degree has a different curriculum focus. A school that offers a DMD emphasizes core courses dealing with the pathology/phisiology/anatomy of various body systems as the medical component of the DMD in addition to the courses a DDS school offers----i.e a school that offers a DMD may have a course in neuroanatomy wheras a DDS school may not. Go to school websites and check it out. UNC offers a DDS and UConn offers a DMD---look at the two curricula and you'll see the differences.

-Richard

Respectfully, Richard, it's posts like this that keep propagating the myth that the two degrees are somehow substantively different from each other. There is no difference between them--not in teaching philosophy, not in didactic focus, not in surgical emphasis, not in systemic ramifications of treatment, not in *anything*.

 

[sxr71]

^^^ Yeah just one look a Columbia's curriculum and the fact they offer a DDS degree shows that there is no way to tell which degree a school offers by analyzing their curriculum.

 

[johnthestreak]

thanks everyone. i appretiate the posts.

 

[rsweeney]

Then I aploigize, and thus see no reason as to why many DMD schools have a different didactic focus. I know for a fact that many DMD schools offer a completely different didactic focus for the reasons I listed. See below for one example.


UConn-DMD--Their BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCES [didactic]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

-Biochemistry
-Human Biology--->histology, etc. (13 weeks)
-Organ Systems 1--->neuroanatomy, and gross anatomy of the head and neck (7 weeks)
-Organ Systems 2--->heart lungs, kidney, gross anatomy of the thorax, intro to biostats and epidemiology(9 weeks)
-Organ Systems 3---> GI tract, endocrine systems, and reproductive organs (9 weeks)
-General Pathology (4 weeks)
-Pharmacology (4 weeks)
-Infectious Disease (4 weeks)
-Diseases of Homeostasis (7 weeks)
-Oncology (3 weeks)
-Diseases of Metabolism (3 weeks)
-Diseases of the Nervous System (4 weeks)
-Diseases of the Reproductive Systems (2 weeks)
-Immune and Non-Immune Mediated Diseases of Skin, ConnectiveTissue, and Bones/Joints (2 weeks)


VCU-DDS [didactic]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Histology
-Pathology
-biochemistry
-neuroanatomy
-Physiology

Seems like a didactic difference to me.

 

[Midoc]

Rsweeny - you supplied the arguement against your own arguement and it is in parentheses. Just because a school breaks the diseases up into different categories and labels them as a different course or module does not mean that they have any more emphasis on those diseases or courses or modules than any other school.

 

[drPheta]

As far as I know, every school's didactic has the same content. It's just the actual schedule that's different. We're all taking the same NDBE, and we're all required the same thing by the ADA.

DDS and DMD are not any different. It's just a matter of semantics and which one sounded cooler to the school.

 

[rsweeney]

I apoligize I did some research and here is the true answer to your question:

"D.D.S. or D.M.D. degree?
Many people, including dentists, share your confusion over the use of the D.D.S. and D.M.D. degrees. Today, some dental schools grant a D.D.S. degree and others prefer to award the D.M.D. degree instead. The training the dentists receive is very similar but the degree granted is different. Here are the details:
Ancient medicine was divided into two groups:


the surgery group that dealt with treating diseases and injuries using instruments; and

the medicine group that dealt with healing diseases using internal remedies. Originally there was only the D.D.S. degree which stands for Doctor of Dental Surgery.
This all changed in 1867 when Harvard University added a dental school. Harvard University only grants degrees in Latin. Harvard did not adopt the D.D.S. or "Doctor of Dental Surgery" degree because the Latin translation was "Chirurgae Dentium Doctoris" or C.D.D. The people at Harvard thought that C.D.D. was cumbersome. A Latin scholar was consulted. The scholar suggested the ancient "Medicinae Doctor" be prefixed with "Dentariae". This is how the D.M.D. or "Dentariae Medicinae Doctor" degree was started. (Congratulations! Now you probably know more Latin than most dentists!)

At the turn of the century, there were 57 dental schools in the U.S. but only Harvard and Oregon awarded the D.M.D. In 1989, 23 of the 66 North American dental schools awarded the D.M.D. I think about half the Canadian dental schools now award the D.M.D. degree.

The American Dental Association (A.D.A.) is aware of the public confusion surrounding these degrees. The A.D.A. has tried on several occasions to reduce this confusion. Several sample proposals include:


eliminate the D.M.D. degree;
eliminate the D.D.S. degree; or
eliminate both degrees and invent a brand new degree that every dental school will agree to use.
Unfortunately, this confusion may be with us for a long time. When emotional factors like "school pride" and "tradition" arise, it is difficult to find a compromise." -Dr. Kim Loos

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by rsweeney
They are the same in the professional sense [I think] but different in the academic sense. The schools that offer each degree has a different curriculum focus.

Richard, not at all. Upon the Board taking a vote, any school can offer whichever degree they want, regardless of whether or not they have curriculum changes.

Case is point: Arizona changed from the DDS to the DMD degree just last month. Our curriculum hasn't changed at all.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by drPheta
As far as I know, every school's didactic has the same content. It's just the actual schedule that's different. We're all taking the same NDBE, and we're all required the same thing by the ADA.

All schools have a minimum educational threshold, but there are schools that teach their students much more (either for better or for worse). We've all heard UConn students complain about it in the past.

I know a bit how they feel--I had entire courses (40+ lecture hours each) last semester in OB/GYN, Dermatology, Hematology, and Epidemiology, to name a few. It many not sound like much, but 40 hours of Dermatology is a lot. Only 4 or 5 hours of that focused on the oral cavity.