What kinds of doctors are there?

Answer 1

There are in fact many "kinds" of doctors:

Doctors of Philosophy (PhD) are by definition the true "doctors", as the word doctor comes from the latin for teacher. Doctors of philosophy are usually scientists and instructors at universities.

Besides these "true" doctors, our society has used the term doctor to refer to anyone who has completed a doctorate degree in school. Thus, there are many different types of doctors, spanning many fields. Most often we associate the term doctor with certain health care professionals who have completed a doctorate level degree. Some examples of those are:

Doctors of Medicine (MD) - use medications and surgery to treat almost anything

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) - In the US they are similar to MDs

Doctors of Chiropractors (DC) - use manual therapies to treat the spine and neuromusculoskeletal system

Doctors of Dentistry (DDS) - treat problems involving teeth and gums

Doctors of Optometry (OD) - deal with issues involving the eyes

Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) - deal with issues involving the feet

Doctors of Veteriny Medicine (DVM) - treat animals using medicine or surgery

Within many of these examples there are sub-specialties. For example, among medical doctors (MDs) specifically there are more than 60 specialties - each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common.

Medical specialties broadly fall into one of the following categories:

Anaesthetics

General practice

Medicine

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Ophthalmology

Pediatrics

Pathology

Psychiatry

Radiology

Surgery