I, as the founding dean and with the support of our faculty, respectfully request a change in the degree our students receive upon graduation from the Doctor of Dental Surgery or D.D.S., to the Doctor of Dental Medicine, the D.M.D.

Use of Term “Medicine” in Dental Titles - Institutions for professional education in dentistry began in the United States as proprietary trade schools in the early to mid-1800’s. Dental education was basically an apprenticeship lasting a year or two, with little or now scientific foundation given to students learning to be dentists. The focus of these schools was entirely technical training. These trade schools were called Colleges or Schools of Dentistry or of Dental Surgery. The first university-based dental school was established at Harvard in 1867. It was called the Harvard Dental School. From that point on many universities began to offer dental education; however, proprietary trade schools of dentistry persisted.

A turning point came when the Carnegie Foundation sponsored a study by Dr. William Gies on the status of dental education. Dr. Gies was a professor of biochemistry at Columbia University. He was instrumental in having Columbia establish a dental school, then called the Columbia School of Dental and Oral Surgery. In his report. Dr. Gies was highly critical of the training that occurred in dental trade schools. It was not scientifically based and did not include instruction in basic medical sciences. They also did not require college preparation prior to beginning dental training. He advocated that dental education be required to occur after college preparation and education include basic medical sciences and only teach scientifically sound clinical therapies.

The result of the Gies report was that non-university-based dental schools closed down, while university-based dental schools continued to be opened. Most of these schools used the term College or School of Dentistry.

The next major change in the title of dental schools occurred in 1940. Harvard President, James Conant, reorganized the Harvard Dental School into the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He did so “to place stronger emphasis on the biological basis of oral medicine and to institute multidisciplinary programs of dental research. A unique feature of the curriculum placed dental students in joint classes with medical students for two years of basic science and pathophysiology, and for an introduction to clinical medicine on the wards of Harvard teaching hospitals and in community health centers.” From this point on other dental schools in existence changed their name to Schools or Colleges of Dental Medicine; and many new dental schools that came into being also adopted the use of Dental Medicine in their title. This trend has continued. Since the 1960s only two dental schools in the United States have not used the terms “Dental Medicine” in their title, the exceptions being the University of Texas, San Antonio School of Dentistry that opened in 1970, and the A.T. Still University Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health that opened in 2003.

The use of the term “Dental Medicine” in school or college names is not a regional trend. Schools across the country are doing this, both public and private. However, since the southeast part of our country has had the greatest growth in new dental schools, a majority the schools in the south are titled Schools or Colleges of Dental Medicine. Also, in states where they have more than one public dental school that has opened since the 1960s, the newer school uses the terms “Dental Medicine.”

This change to the use of Dental Medicine is because of the widespread appreciation that good oral health is essential to good overall health. Also, good dental care is an integral part of good medical care, rather than a separate, non-essential aspect of health care. The 2000 U.S. Surgeon’s General’s report on Oral Health highlighted the importance of good oral health care for all, “since oral health means much more than healthy teeth. It means being free of chronic oral-facial pain conditions, oral and pharyngeal (throat) cancers, oral soft tissue lesions, birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, and scores of other diseases and disorders that affect the oral, dental, and craniofacial tissues, collectively known as the craniofacial complex. These are tissues whose functions we often take for granted, yet they represent the very essence of our humanity. They allow us to speak and smile; sigh and kiss; smell, taste, touch, chew, and swallow; cry out in pain; and convey a world of feelings and emotions through facial expressions. They also provide protection against microbial infections and environmental insults.” Dental educators understand the critical importance of dental students having a sound understanding of the human body in normal and diseased states since what they do when they makes diagnoses and plan care must take the patient’s overall health status into account.

Dental education, from an accreditation standpoint, must provide students with a strong basis in medical science. Our school at East Carolina University will have an even stronger reason to insure that our students are properly prepared in basic health science. That is because of our mission to send them into underserved parts of our state. Citizens in these areas regularly also are underserved for their other medical problems out of lack of access or poor health education. Thus, our students will commonly be treating sicker patients and must be ready for this aspect of their practice. The graying of all parts of our country will further accentuate this phenomenon.

Changing the Dental Degree Offered by ECU - When proprietary trade schools of dentistry were the norm the degree granted by these institutions was the Doctor of Dental Surgery, the D.D.S. When universities began offering dental education changes began to occur. The original school to confer the Doctor of Dental Medicine or D.M.D. degree was Harvard. The reason for the change was not due to the name of the school, since the D.M.D. degree was adopted when the school first opened in 1867, and the school was known as the Harvard Dental School. The actual reason was that since Harvard degrees were all in Latin, the person trying to translate Doctor of Dental Surgery was having trouble. He instead used the terms Doctor of Dental Medicine and in Latin the words rearrange to, “Dentariae Medicinae Doctorae.” Thus, the degree D.M.D. was coined.

Most, but not all, of the schools who adopted the title “School of College of Dental Medicine” decided to grant the D.M.D. Also, since the 1960s, all but one of the new dental schools titled Schools of Dental Medicine that have opened grant the D.M.D.; this includes the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health. The exception is the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine that grants the D.D.S.

Clearly, those unfamiliar that dentists can have a degree other than the D.D.S. might wonder if the D.M.D. and D.D.S. degrees are considered equivalent. Yes, they are. They have the same education, same accreditation standards, and take the same licensure examinations. Both degrees are recognized by all national and state dental associations, as well as state and specialty boards. The scope of practice allowed by law is the same for both degrees. Throughout North Carolina there are dentists with both degrees, including here in Greenville.

In order to recognize our school being new and as one that embraces the concept of being part of the medical health care team I respectfully request our degree be the D.M.D..