Anonymous wrote:We know a woman who is a dentist. Her email address says Dr. She refers to herself as Dr. X. She tries to help people on planes when they ask if a doctor is on board. She absolutely considers herself a doctor. When someone gets injured, she is the first the jump up and help. She often gives medical advice.

Of course. The dental school acceptance rate is tough and what they have to do to get in, and succeed, is extremely rigorous. Just b/c it's not as hard as med school, only an ahole would diminish the profession like OP suggests.

Yes they are a doctor. Even though they are not a doctor of medicine, they prescribe medication, diagnosis and are equipped to provide emergency medical care (in the short term). They can do CPR, emergency AED, etc. They are certainly better equipped to respond to an emergency situation than the general public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We'll take it one better. We consider a doctor to be a dentist. Teeth, gums, and the mouth are parts of the human body, and doctors are trained to understand the body as a whole. Doctors ARE dentists and everyone knows it.

Dentistry is a specialty. Do you consider a cardiovascular surgeon to be a podiatrist?

I was flying on a plane and there was an emergency. The pilot got on the speaker and asked "Is there a dentist on board? Do we have a dentist on board?"
A dentist emerged and all was well. BTDT

Yes, dentists are doctors.

Anonymous wrote:They still have the title doctor, yes. As does someone with any other type of doctorate (Ph.D., Ed.D.). They are not a medical doctor.

I am a Ph.D. I use the doctor honorific for my title when filling out forms because I earned it. I don't pretend to be a medical doctor.

Tacky

When you have a health crisis at home, you don't call a doctor. You call a paramedic for immediate care and transportation to a hospital. Why do flight attendants ask for doctors?

Anonymous wrote:Same with pharmacists. Now they have PharmD degrees (Doctor of Pharmacy).

Same with physical therapist and attorneys.

Anonymous wrote:We'll take it one better. We consider a doctor to be a dentist. Teeth, gums, and the mouth are parts of the human body, and doctors are trained to understand the body as a whole. Doctors ARE dentists and everyone knows it.

Dentistry is a specialty. Do you consider a cardiovascular surgeon to be a podiatrist?

Anonymous wrote:We know a woman who is a dentist. Her email address says Dr. She refers to herself as Dr. X. She tries to help people on planes when they ask if a doctor is on board. She absolutely considers herself a doctor. When someone gets injured, she is the first the jump up and help. She often gives medical advice.

Get a life.

We'll take it one better. We consider a doctor to be a dentist. Teeth, gums, and the mouth are parts of the human body, and doctors are trained to understand the body as a whole. Doctors ARE dentists and everyone knows it.

If PT is no longer a professional degree, dentists aren’t doctors. Oral surgeons are definitely doctors.

Same with pharmacists. Now they have PharmD degrees (Doctor of Pharmacy).

Not a dr.

Technically, even physicians and surgeons aren't doctors.

I think you're a doctor only if you have a PhD in one of the seven liberal arts or something.

Geometry, theology, civil law, etc.

Yes, a dentist has a degree of doctor in dentistry.

My in-laws are a family of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and veterinarians. My dentist SIL is extremely intelligent, more so than her doctor daughter. My husband has an MD and a PhD. His older brother is a pharmacist. My nephew is a very competent vet.

In all of these professions, the education is very rigorous and has the same STEM base, and heavy medical training.

Even though human doctors may be more respected socially, it doesn't mean the others don't have expert medical knowledge in their fields.