DDS or DMD? What a Dentist's Degree and Training Mean
Dentists' names come with letters after them, and not every dentist's are the same: some read DDS, others DMD. If you are comparing practices and wondering whether that difference matters, the answer is short — and the training behind both titles is the more interesting part.
DDS and DMD
DDS stands for Doctor of Dental Surgery and DMD for Doctor of Dental Medicine, and either title means the dentist graduated from an accredited dental school (American Dental Association (MouthHealthy)). A DDS and a DMD receive the same amount of training and can do the same dental procedures (Cleveland Clinic).
Which leaves the more useful question: what the training behind either title involves.
How long the training takes
In the U.S., general dentists usually go to school for eight years: four years of undergraduate studies and four years to complete dental school. Dental specialists go to school for 10 to 11 years (Cleveland Clinic).
Board certification involves written, oral and clinical exams (Cleveland Clinic).
What a general dentist does
A dentist is a doctor who diagnoses and treats oral health conditions. General dentists take care of overall oral health and often practice family dentistry, offering a broad range of services (Cleveland Clinic).
The specialties are their own subject: the dental specialties and when a dentist refers covers them.
Beyond the letters
The letters answer a narrow question. The rest of the comparison is a separate exercise, and how to choose a dentist and check a licence works through it.
Our office is at 147 Main St, 2nd Floor, Lodi, NJ 07644, and Dr. Steven Liao is our dentist. If a first visit is what you are weighing up, that is the subject of our first-visit page.
Sources
- Cleveland Clinic. "Dentist." Updated 2024-09-03. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24448-dentist
- American Dental Association (MouthHealthy). "DDS and DMD." https://www.mouthhealthy.org/all-topics-a-z/dds-and-dmd
