An issue which is extremely important to point out is there is a difference between an academic doctoral title (Dr/D) and a trivial doctoral title which is common among the ordinary people in a community. The academic Dr or D title requires many years of solid background and innovations in the field of research in a particular sub-specialty and is achieved by defensing a doctoral dissertation. The trivial doctoral title which people entitle a graduate of (master’s degree in) medicine or dentistry in these days, is actually a remnant from the old days when the volume of science and knowledge was not as vast as today, and as soon as a person reached the “top” of the existing knowledge especially in medicine and dentistry, it automatically issued a doctoral title to them. If you look at certificates/diplomas of many physicians around the world who finished a medical education more than 60/70 years ago, you see they have been graduated with a doctoral degree in medicine. But this is not actual any longer and you just get a master’s degree.
The Phd title which we call it as “the little doctoral” title is a title given after a successful defense of a dissertation/thesis following of a three year in-depth academic research and education in an unresolved issue in the field of your practice/interest.