Dentists calling themselves Doctors

[bottletop]

I noticed on my last trip to the dental surgery that all the dentists working there were using the title Dr. xxxx. I can't recall their qualifications, but it seems unlikely all 4 had a PhD or the necessary medical qualification to justify that title.

I have a PhD, so can use the title Doctor although I never do - not even in front of the "Doctors" at the dentists

Recently the ASA upheld a complaint about this, readable here http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2012/12/Woodvale-Clinic/SHP_ADJ_206574.aspx

And another report here http://www.consultingroom.com/blog/352/are-dentists-allowed-to-call-themselves-doctors?-no,-say-the-asa.

I understand the General Dental Council Standards Committee has also recommended Dentists stop using the term as well, unless qualified to.

So what do people think? Is your Dentist a Doctor or not? Does it actually matter?

 

[bottletop]

Well it could matter I guess if you had booked a flight using the name Dr. xxx and an emergency illness occurred during the flight (or some other improbable scenario).

As the flight attendants called out for a Doctor you steam to the front and say "open wide"

 

[bottletop]

I call myself Dr flangees Hubcaps on business cards.

Am I in the wrong?

ASA say yes, but with a name like that you could get away with it

 

[bottletop]

I think the more important question is; Is your dentist a total babe or not? Mine is it matters.

He isn't.

 

[bottletop]

Say wha?!

If I had a PhD, I'd be using Dr. at every chance I could get.

And you'd be getting confused with being a medical doctor all the time I expect, which is why I avoid using it in a non-professional (science) setting.

Most people think doctor=medic, rightly or wrongly.

So for example, if I got a job in a hospital pushing trolleys but used the title Dr it would be confusing. I understand this is becoming more of a problem in US hospitals with Doctorates in Nursing Practice using the title Doctor.

Edit to add, if you think of neurosurgeons etc, they use the title "Mr" to distinguish their specialisation from "regular" doctors. As a Dental Surgeon, should a dentist be referred to as "Mr" to.

 

[bottletop]

Problem?

Getz da ladiez

Or your male neighbour wanting to show you his "rash"

 

[bottletop]

Well at least they're not chiropractors calling themselves doctors.

Most GPs in the UK call themselves Dr without having earned a doctorate - the medical profession has done it for a while now - I don't see why dentists can't too.

Indeed, as I understand it a Doctor in a medical setting could be an honorary title granted after obtaining a bachelor of medicine degree, or a postgraduately trained specialised MD (using the title Mr) or a doctorate PhD.

The point is, I guess, not what you are entitled to call yourself but what the patient hears/understands. Does a dental patient confuse his dentist's title of "Doctor" when used in a medical setting, with the usual meaning of Doctor? The ASA seems to think that is the case.

 

[bottletop]

Yea and your phd in psychology would also be of great benefit.

Wrong subject, but that is my point exactly.

 

[bottletop]

Asa didnt say it was wrong.
Asa said it was wrong to use it misleading in advertising.
I read the asa ruling, big difference in what ou are reporting and what the said, the ad has to change, not his use of the title.

Well that's right, the ad now has to explain in detail "the similarities and differences between the practitioner's qualifications and medical qualifications", a dentist doesn't have to stop using the term Doctor.

 

[bottletop]

Your point was dentists who actually do annual cpr training might be of no use in an emergency.
I was sarcastically suggesting that actually people with phds who have evry right to call themselves doctor are potentially of little to no use.
So it isnt your point, it negates your point, when your point was seeing doctor listed might make for a bad situation in an emergency.

No, my point is that neither a PhD Doctor nor a Dental Doctor may be of any specific use when called upon in an emergency for which a medical doctor is required still stands, I think, edit to add: and was more of a point about what the public's perception of what a doctor is.

 

[bottletop]

This is very new and strange to me. Back where I come from all dentists would have to finish 5 year medical studies with specialisation in dental surgery plus usual practice and therefore calling them doctor wasn't any different to calling any other bachelor of medicine a doctor.

What are we saying here, that dentists in UK don't have to go through medical studies and they just finish some sort of technical college, ie are glorified barbers? Don't get me wrong, this would certainly explain my battlefield hospital like experience with British dentistry over the last 20 years, but surely they must comply with at least EU standard for the title, no?

I think that before 1995, dentists were called Mr. Then numbers of EU dentists arrived who, because of their country's specific degrees, had the right to be called doctor. In order not to appear inferior to the public, UK dentists then insisted on being called doctor and the BDA said it was not opposed to the idea.

Now the ASA has said to dentists (through a test case) that yes, a dentist can call himself doctor but the dentist must make it clear in the advertising that he is not actually a qualified medical doctor nor does he have a PhD.

So all in all it is a relatively recent occurence - less than 20 years.

edit to add: I am pretty sure I read yesterday that the Standards Committee for the BDA has recently recommended to the BDA governing body that dentists do not, in future, refer to themselves as doctor. Whether the governing body agrees (dentists over all do not) we shall have to see.

 

[bottletop]

But what is the legal position on this though?

If a dentist with no phd applied for car insurance, would their title be Dr?

Likewise, if a medical practitioner with no phd also applied for car insurance, would their prefix be Dr?

Looks like anyone can call them selves a doctor if this is true.

http://www.policespecials.com/forum/index.php?/topic/120098-protected-title/