DDS, DMD, Specialist, Board Certified: What the Letters Mean

Choosing a Dentist

8 min read  •  By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS  •  Updated August 2026

This started as a career question, and it is a fine career question. But the more useful version, for most people reading a dental practice website, is what all those letters after a name actually mean.

Because the alphabet on a dental office wall is genuinely confusing. DDS, DMD, MS, Diplomate, specialist, board certified. Some of those are equivalent, some are not, and one of them is frequently misused in advertising.

Here is the whole map.

The timeline, straightforwardly

Four years of undergraduate study, then a national admission test, then four years of dental school. That is eight years to a general dentist license, plus passing national and state examinations.

Dental school itself is split roughly into two halves: the basic and dental sciences first, then clinical training treating patients under supervision. By graduation, a general dentist has done fillings, crowns, extractions, root canals, and dentures on real people.

After that, a general dentist can practice. Or they can apply for a residency, which is where the timeline diverges considerably.

Tap and drag the table sideways to see every column.

DDS or DMD? No difference

This is the most common question and the answer is the least satisfying: they are the same degree.

Doctor of Dental Surgery and Doctor of Dental Medicine describe identical training with identical licensing requirements. Which one a dentist holds depends entirely on which school they attended. Harvard awards a DMD. UCLA awards a DDS. The curriculum and the licensing examinations are the same.

So if you are comparing two dentists and one has DDS and the other has DMD, you have learned nothing about either of them. Move on to the next question.

What MS after the name means

A Master of Science, usually earned alongside a specialty residency. It typically involves a research thesis in addition to the clinical training.

It tells you the person did an academic component during residency. It is not a substitute for the residency itself and it is not what makes somebody a specialist.

For what it is worth, both my wife and I hold a DMD and an MS from Boston University, which reflects the orthodontic residency plus the research component.

Specialist is a protected word, and it gets misused

This is the distinction that actually matters when you are choosing where to go.

A specialist has completed an accredited residency in a recognized specialty after dental school. The title is regulated. A general dentist cannot call themselves an orthodontist or an oral surgeon.

What a general dentist absolutely can do is perform many of those procedures. General dentists place implants, do root canals, extract teeth, and provide clear aligner treatment. Plenty of them do it well, and there is nothing improper about it.

Where it gets murky is advertising that implies specialty training without claiming it outright. Phrases like specializing in orthodontics, or braces specialist, on a general practice. That is the language to notice, and it is fair to ask directly: did you complete a residency in this, and how long was it.

None of this means a specialist is always the right answer. A straightforward root canal at a good general practice is fine. A complicated one belongs with an endodontist. What you want is a dentist honest enough to tell you which situation you are in.

Board certification is the voluntary part

Finishing a residency makes someone a specialist. It does not make them board certified.

Board certification is a separate process after residency, involving written and clinical examinations and, in orthodontics, presenting completed treated cases for evaluation by a panel of examiners. Nobody is required to do it in order to practice.

That optional quality is what gives it meaning. It is a deliberate decision to have your actual finished work judged by people who have no reason to be kind about it.

In my case, that is Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. Roughly a third of orthodontists hold it. It does not make somebody a better clinician than a colleague who chose not to pursue it, and I would not pretend otherwise. It does tell you the work was examined by somebody other than the person who did it.

Every specialty has an equivalent board. If it matters to you, ask, and verify. The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners license search confirms licensure and disciplinary history, and specialty boards publish their own diplomate directories.

What any of this changes for you

Less than the marketing suggests, and more than nothing.

Credentials tell you what somebody was trained to do. They do not tell you whether the office runs on time, whether they explain things, whether they will give you an estimate in writing, or whether they will tell you a tooth is a coin flip before you spend the money.

So use credentials as a filter for the technical question, which is whether this person has the training for the specific thing you need, then judge everything else on how the first visit goes. That whole checklist is in the guide to choosing a dentist.

And if you are actually here because you are considering dental school: it is eight years minimum, it is expensive, and I would do it again.

Common questions

How long does it take to become a dentist?

Eight years after high school. Four years of college and four years of dental school, followed by national and state licensing examinations.

Is a DMD better than a DDS?

No. They are the same degree with identical training and licensing requirements. Which one a dentist holds depends only on the school they attended.

How long does it take to become an orthodontist?

Two to three years of accredited residency after the four years of dental school, so roughly six to seven years after college.

What does board certified mean for a dentist?

It means completing a voluntary examination process after residency, which in orthodontics includes presenting treated cases to a panel of examiners. It is not required to practice, which is what makes it meaningful.

Can a general dentist do braces or implants?

Yes. General dentists may legally perform many procedures that specialists also perform. What they cannot do is use the specialist title without completing the accredited residency.

How do I verify a dentist credentials?

The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners publishes a free public license search showing licensure and disciplinary history. Specialty boards maintain their own diplomate directories.

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