Two Letters, Same Dentist

Some dental schools award a DDS — Doctor of Dental Surgery — and others award a DMD, which stands for either Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry or Doctor of Dental Medicine. The two degrees require identical education, qualify you for the same licenses, and carry the same weight with patients, employers, specialty programs, and state dental boards.

If you are choosing between dental schools based on which degree they confer, you are optimizing for the wrong variable.

Where the Distinction Came From

The DDS degree is the older credential. The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, founded in 1840, conferred DDS degrees from its inception. Harvard changed this in 1867, conferring DMD — Dentariae Medicinae Doctoris — consistent with the university's Latin degree nomenclature. The decision was institutional preference, not a statement about curriculum content.

Today approximately 35 schools grant DDS and approximately 32 grant DMD.

Curriculum, Licensing, and Scope: No Difference

All accredited US dental schools must meet the same CODA standards. The INBDE (Integrated National Board Dental Examination) is required of all graduates regardless of degree type. State licensure does not distinguish between DDS and DMD. Scope of practice is governed by state dental practice acts, not degree title.

Build your dental school list based on what actually matters.

AdmitBase calculates your match scores against dental programs using your DAT and GPA — so you apply to schools where your numbers genuinely fit.

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Specialty Applications

Dental specialty programs accept applicants who hold either degree. The PASS matching system does not filter by DDS or DMD. What specialty programs evaluate: class rank, dental school GPA, DAT scores, letters of recommendation, and research or clinical exposure. Degree title appears nowhere on the evaluation rubric.

Which Schools Grant Which

Harvard, Penn, Tufts, Boston University, and University of Florida grant DMD. Columbia, NYU, UCLA, University of Michigan, and Ohio State grant DDS. DDS and DMD schools appear throughout the rankings with no clustering by degree type. The correlation between degree title and educational quality is zero.

What Should Actually Drive Your School Choice

  • Cost and debt load: As detailed in our guide on dental school cost and ROI, the gap between in-state public and private tuition can be $200,000+.
  • Match rates for your target specialty
  • Your DAT and GPA relative to each school's published medians
  • Clinical volume and case mix
  • Geography: Dentists disproportionately build practices near where they trained.

The DDS vs. DMD question has a definitive answer: it doesn't matter. Move on to the questions that do.