Things You Always Wanted to Know About Dentists
. What is the difference between a D.D.S. and a D.M.D.?
Nothing really these days….individual dental schools give a degree of either
Doctor of Dental Surgery or Doctor of Dental Medicine depending on their
philosophy or approach to patient care. You may wonder why its not D.D.M.
then. The D.M.D. degree schools, being the first dental colleges formed
in early America, printed their degrees in Latin where the adjective was
placed after the noun: Doctoris Medicinae Dentariae. The Medical College
of Georgia, Univ. of Alabama, Univ. of Kentucky, and Harvard University
give a D.M.D. degree, for instance, while the Univs. of Tennessee, North
Carolina and Florida give D.D.S.'s. 4
. What is the difference between General Dentists, Family Dentists, Orthodontists,
Oral Surgeons, Periodontists, Endodontists and all those other kinds of dentists?
In a nutshell, it is the scope of practice that the individual dentist practices.
Their are eight branches or specialties in dentistry that a dentist may choose
to train in and offer services for his or her patients. Dental schools are generally
four year colleges attended after basic university degrees are attained. Internships,
fellowships, and residencies are available in dentistry just as in medicine and
may be one, two, three and even four years in duration. These are formal years
of training. A dentist can begin practice and perform most all procedures upon
graduating from dental school.
The large majority of dentists go straight into practice immediately after dental
school and practice all forms of dentistry. They are commonly referred to as
General Dentists or Family Dentists. Some dentists take additional training in
school settings and gain a specialty degree: Orthodontists straighten teeth,
Endodontists do root canals, Periodontists do gum surgery, Oral Surgeons remove
teeth and perform complex oral surgery, Pedodontists work on children, Prosthodontists
build back missing teeth, Oral Pathologists study oral diseases, etc. If a dentist
limits his practice to one discipline or field of treatment, he is said to be
a Specialist. If a dentist practices in many branches of dentistry his practice
is termed General or sometimes Comprehensive.
One of the keys for keeping up-to-date in dentistry is continuing dental education,
or CDE. All dentists are required to take a certain number of hours of CDE per
year. Programs exist for advancement and specialty training in all areas of dentistry
that may be achieved by all levels of dentists. For instance, dentists receive
Certificates of Participation, Fellowships, Masterships and Diplomat Status for
successive levels of education in CDE courses. Board Certification is awarded
for many programs of instruction at the highest level.
. What do the initials mean after the D.M.D. or D.D.S. in a dentists listing?
These initials tell what advanced training or honors a dentist has achieved.
The Academy of General Dentistry gives Fellowship, Mastership and Board Certified
status to its members at advanced levels of training. Thus, fellowship status
is Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry: F.A.G.D. Mastership would be M.A.G.D.
Some specialty programs give a M.S. or M.S.D. degree for advanced study in one
of the branches of dentistry, hence, the Masters of Science designation after
the D.D.S. A dentist may hold numerous degrees and honors: fellowship in the
International College of Oral Implantology … F.I.C.O.I, mastership in the International
College of Craniomandibular Orthopedics … M.I.C.C.M.O., or member of the American
College of Dentists … A.C.D. In a business sense, P.C. and P.A. after a dentist's
name means Professional Corporation or Professional Association.
. What makes a really good dentist? That depends on what the patient values.
Most people value the painless, on-time dentist the most. Others go for quality
of craftsmanship and select a dentist who makes teeth that look good, feel good
and last a long time. And still others look for the most reasonable prices in
determining what they consider as "good". Then there are those who go mostly
by personality or "chairside manner", someone they can relate to or get along
with well. Many patients appreciate and seek out dentists who are trained comprehensively
to do most all dental procedures. Hey, if you can find all these characteristics
in one dentist, they must be pretty good….but don't bring any Kryptonite to the
office when you come for a checkup!
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