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Dr Ray Lansdowne
Dr. Ray Lansdowne a Wichita native, attended Friends University, graduated from Baylor University College of Dentistry, and served in the Air Force as a dentist before taking over an existing Pediatric Dentistry practice in Wichita. Although Dr. Lansdowne does not specialize in children's dentistry, he holds a special place in his heart for serving children's dental needs. Currently, he is the first General Dentist to serve as Trustee for the A.A.P.D. (American Assoc. of Pediatric Dentistry). Alpha Omega Dental Center at 250 N. Tyler Rd., is a state of the art Family Dental Practice. He is active in numerous dental organizations and has served on various committees, boards and in elected office for local, state and national dental organizations. Reach him by e-mail at rlansdds@aol.com or fax at (316) 729-2754.
Dental
2003-09-01 15:42:00
What does DDS or DMD mean?
QUESTION:  Some dentists have the letters DDS after their name, others have DMD and some have an alphabet soup of letters after their names.  Does the DMD stand for Dental Medical Doctor and what do other letters stand for?  
ANSWER:  It should be stated at the outset that neither DDS nor DMD is superior to the other and the training for each is virtually identical.  They both must pass the same National and State Dental Boards.  The literature on the topic may be somewhat biased depending on the degree of the author, so I'll be as unbiased as possible with my DDS degree.  Some of my best dental friends are DMDs.  The DDS designation stands for Doctor of Dental Surgery and the DMD designation stands for Doctor of Dental Medicine.  Your next question would probably be "Why then is the latter not DDM?"  The DMD degree in Latin is translated "Dentariae Medicinae Doctoris", hence the DMD and not DDM.  Lets look at the history of the degrees conferred, which may help remove the confusion.  In the early history of the healing arts, the field was separated into medicine and surgery, physicians (who focused on healing diseases by the administration of internal and external medicines) and surgeons (who focused on treating diseases, injuries and deformities by manual and instrumental operations).  Space does not allow for the interesting details of the relationship between the physician and the surgeon, but when you see me sometime ask me about King Louis XIV of France and his experience with a not so aristocratic ailment.   For dentistry, the schooling began in the United States with the formation of the first dental school, University of Maryland-Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, in 1840.  The surgical reference based on the observation that ointments and medicines would not heal the broken down tooth prevailed as other institutions opened dental schools.  Harvard University founded its dental school in 1869 and since their degrees were issued in Latin, they chose not to utilize the standard DDS degree (Latin: "Chirurgiae Dentium Doctoris"), as the English CDD was not acceptable.  The English DDS translation into Latin would be Doctor of Dental Science and according to History of the Harvard Dental School, this was not acceptable as "…dentistry was not properly a science".  Whoa!  That calls for an ointment over the wound to heal it.  Speaking of science, the medical science of the day called for persons with elevated temperatures to have body fluids expelled, letting off heat, and if they had a chill, warmed them up with cauterization or heat plasters.  Both medicine and dentistry have come a long way since those days.}  Finally, Harvard looked to a Latin scholar for recommendations.  The scholar suggested the word 'Dentariae' be added to the degree 'Medicinae Doctoris' and so it became Dentariae Medicinae Doctoris or DMD.  One dental school conferring the DMD degree has the entire diploma in Latin and states the degree as Doctorus Medicinae Dentariae, still translated as DMD.   The practice of dentistry is an art as well as a science.  The science is well defined (and as with other health fields, constantly refined) for dentistry and is virtually the same in all of the dental schools, regardless of the degree conferred, as is the art of dentistry.  The art part is up to the individual student.  There are both Picassos and Rembrandts in the area of artistic skills.  It was not until after World War II that, as new dental schools were opened, the three schools conferring the DMD degree had more company.  Today there are 55 dental schools.  The number of DDS degree institutions is 35 and the DMD number is 20.  The 10 Canadian dental schools are evenly split. The conferring of the degree designation is left up to the individual school.  The moral: don't select your dentist on the basis of DDS vs. DMD degrees; the education is the same and are all legally qualified to provide dental care to the public, provided a state license is granted and the renewal process is followed as dictated by state law.  The other letters stand for a variety of degrees and designations.  There are nine disciplines within dentistry that are recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA) as designated specialties, granted with formal education beyond the degree granted for general practice studies (DDS/DMD)   Next month, we will look at those disciplines, designations, and degrees within dentistry that are recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA).
 
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