For any other specialty, you go through medical school and the standard post-MD training. Is dentistry really so different? Or is it mostly a matter of history these days? And while we’re at it, how does it work in other countries?
Don’t psychiatrists also have separate training? Or am I wrong?
In the US, a psychiatrist is an MD who also has some mental health training.
Optometrists* and podiatrists usually go to different schools. And osteopaths**. I can guess at why the OD and DO are separate, but podiatry I have no idea.
*Not always purely medical, but they do more than just look at your eye and give you a prescription. Many do medical research.
**They’re not quacks in the US.
To clarify about psychiatry, a psychiatrist is an MD/DO who undergoes residency in psychiatry. It’s one of many specialty paths available after graduating medical school, and is not an add-on to one of the other specialties.
As for the OP, I have no idea, and I’ve often wondered. I’ve also wondered why podiatry is separate.
Alot of the courses are the same especially the first two years-Gross Anatomy, Microanatomy, Biochemestry, Microbiology, Pathalogy, Physiology, Pharmacology etc. In fact in my dental school we shared cadavers with the med students. They did head and neck while we did torso and extremities the next semester we got a new cadaver and swiched. There are alot of things that are different the third and fourth years. Their clinic is the full body while ours is the mouth and surrounding tissues. Dentists learn to prep teeth for crowns, fillings etc. and how to do things like make dentures. MDs learn prostate exams and how to deliver babies. While they share much of the basics there is a big difference in the specifics.
I’ve done some research, and as best as I’ve been able to figure out, it has to do with the origins of each profession and how that profession evolved over time. They were always separate from medicine, so the training is separate from medicine.
In fact, based on my research, there is probably no good reason why most of these professions can’t be subsumed into the MD degree; indeed, some orthopedists (who are MDs) specialize in foot and ankle problems; some ophthalmologists specialize in refractive disorders; and so forth. AIUI, it’s mostly history that keeps them separate, although each profession would probably like to keep it that way.
That being said, however, dentistry is probably best kept as a separate profession. The mouth and jaw are incredibly complex structures, and the nature the profession is different from medicine. And, having known some klutzy MDs, I’m glad they can’t poke around in my mouth.
Here in Peru dentists and MDs are different professions even with separate Certifying boards. Psychiatrists are MD who their residency in Psych.
And a psychologist is a person with similar mental health training, but without being an MD.
Osteopaths have even less reasons than dentists to be separate from MD’s. They practice in almost the exact same way, except for the small minority who actually do OMM. The split is entirely based on history and politics.
I think this is sort of backwards. A psychiatry residency is 4 year long, and like most medical residencies is far more time-intensive than medical school. They might be better described as a specialist in the treatment of mental disorders who also has some general medical education.
So, your telling us you missed out on the joy of learning to do a prostate exam? 
If you’re serious, that doesn’t make much sense. If dentistry were a medical specialty, it would presumably be a surgical specialty like ENT or ophthalmology which either did not attract klutzy MDs or trained the klutziness out of them.
I don’t know. Certainly, dentists have to know anatomy, physiology, and chemistry; at least, as far as the teeth (and head and neck) go.
My ex was a doctor of audiology–not the same as a dentist, but with a lot of the same requirements. She had to study the head, neck, and chest: the anatomy and the physiology; and she had to dissect human cadavers. She had to know which pharmaceuticals did what on the systems she supervised. In addition to human cadavers, she also did a lot of work on cat cadavers (cats have the same basic aural structure we do, just smaller). She was able to diagnose hearing disorders; and to prescribe, within defined limits, remedies. Most often, these were hearing aids (which she could also prescribe); but occasionally, she would refer to an otolaryngologist for further work.
I once asked her why she didn’t just go to medical school–with her knowledge and experience, she would have sailed through. But she said that she wasn’t really interested in anything medical that wasn’t audiology-related. No broken bones, no cardiology, no OBGYN work, no gerontology or pediatrics. Just audiology. That was her professional passion.
Maybe that’s the answer: dentists are dentists because they are interested in teeth, and not interested in broken bones, heart attacks, cancer, and so on. If all you’re interested in is teeth (or ears), then a full M.D. may not be necessary.
In Spain, dentistry and psychiatry are medical specialties and they follow the same path as every other doctor:
6 years of medical school gives you a degree which lets you work as a doctor but only in private or temp positions. If you want to continue your training (which is currently required even of GPs if they want to be able to get permanent positions in the public system) the nationwide MIR exam is the ranking system which lets people pick a hospital and specialty: best grade picks first (each hospital posts how many openings they have, and in which specialties). Then you spend 3-5 years training in a hospital, working mostly within your chosen specialty but also doing short rotations with other doctors and getting tons of ER duty. For dentists and psychiatrists as for most others, the residence takes 4 years (GP is 3, anesthesiology is 5).
In this context, it’s interesting to remember that medicine and surgery developed separately, and that physicians and surgeons were mutually hostile for quite some time. Yet ultimately surgery was subsumed into general medical training, while dentistry was not.
Yeah and it doesn’t bother me one bit. Glad I don’t have to do pelvic exams either, as nasty as some of those mouths are-I don’t even want to think about it. wouldn’t mind an occasional breast exam though. I remember reading in a tabloid while in Dental School(about 25 years ago) about a dentist in Iowa I think who was doing breast cancer exams on all his female patients. Said he went to jail of course. I always thought if he was a good enough salesman to talk so many women into taking off their tops, he was in the wrong proffession, should have been selling cars or real estate.
I just love doing dentistry and wouldn’t be an MD if you paid me twice as much. Nothing like taking someone who is scared to death and in massive pain with really messed up teeth and getting them over their fear and fixing their mouth. When they smile like they haven’t smiled in years, man what a great feeling.
Just to add to the differences, the entrance requirements are different for both. Dental school applicants take the DAT, which is a test that includes spatial reasoning. In Canada, I believe the equivalent test even includes a portion where they carve a bar of soap to resemble something, although my memory on this is pretty shaky. In the US, the MCAT is the test required for application to medical school, and is more a basic science test. To be honest, having done the MCAT and gone through med school, I don’t think it’s particularly representative of the knowledge needed to get through med school, but I suppose it’s the best they have for now.
I get that same response with the metric butt loads of morphine and dilaudid I dole out.
An Optometrist isn’t an MD. That would be an Ophthalmologist.
So do (or did) physicians look down their noses at dentists? Or is that an overblown rumor?