Dentistry Specialization/Owning Practice as Family Dentist

[mynameisno]

I am an incoming dental student. I want to find out more about the path to specialization, what each specialization entails and to owning a practice as a family dentist. I have been scouring reddit and SDN posts about the pros and cons of different options but am feeling overwhelmed. Do you have suggestions on resources for someone like me who is just starting off in my research?

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[Svart Aske]

You should be able to find out everything you need to know once you are in dental school.

 

[Combine33]

Wowzers homie, chill out. You'll figure it out at the very last possible moment, like I did!

 

[Dynex2013]

I am an incoming dental student. I want to find out more about the path to specialization, what each specialization entails and to owning a practice as a family dentist. I have been scouring reddit and SDN posts about the pros and cons of different options but am feeling overwhelmed. Do you have suggestions on resources for someone like me who is just starting off in my research?

Slow down since nothing you read online will make up for real experience. Start dental school, do different kinds of externships, and see what you doing in clinic. If you haven't started DS yet, then enjoy your free time bc you will have very little of it once you start

 

[DocMon16]

I agree with all of these guys and gals above. Dental school is a long journey, a marathon as a they say. Going onto specialize is an even longer marathon - we will call it an ultrathon especially if you go specialize. Even if you worked for/shadowed specialists before dental school, until you actually perform the procedures and are the primary operator, you won't truly know what you like. You need to focus on your classes and being a dental student first, that is going to take some adjustment at first for sure. And like Dynex2013 said, enjoy your time now before you start. When you get into the grind and start doing quite a bit of preclinical procedures, then you can start thinking about specializing and doing externships.

Hope this helps.

 

[2TH MVR]

It also helps if you are attending a DS with specialty graduate programs. You can see 1st hand what those residencies are all about. I spent alot of time talking to the residents and the specialty staff. Going to DSs without specialty programs IMHO gives a somewhat blurred, or biased experience on the whole dynamics of GP vs. Specialty patient treatment. I went into DS planning to be a GP. After spending some time in the different specialty departments .... I came to the realization of what I wanted to pursue.

The other advantage of attending these more traditional DS is that once you have decided which specialty you want to pursue .... you can help out in that specialty dept. I helped the ortho residents and the attendings with their research which allowed me to get my name on their research. They helped me with my research project. I helped the ortho attendings with anything they needed. I also was able to get quality LORs when it came time to apply to ortho residency. One ortho attending I knew well moved on to a different ortho residency where I interviewed. I fully believe that knowing that ortho attending helped my cause to be accepted to that desirable stipend paying program.

 

[P7898]

Proths-pedo dual specialty.