Editorial: medicine and dentistry: different entities?

Historically, dentistry and medicine were two different academic degrees learned through separate routes. Medical students go through medical school, and only after achieving their MD degree do they choose their specialty. Dental students, however, skip the general medicine part and focus on dental issues, receiving their DDS/DMD degree. The question is, if this is still the appropriate format for both disciplines. Do dentists differ from ophthalmologists, dermatologists, and ENTs? Does a person who is about to extract a tooth from a patient on anticoagulants need a different background from the one who will excise a nevus or treat an ingrown nail? Somehow dentists are being raised and educated to become “only dentists”; however, it is probably time to realize that dental education is not at all dissimilar from many other disciplines in medical practice. Having that Liran Levin Medicine and dentistry: Different entities?