Need advice from current Ortho residents

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smogdodger

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I am applying to orthodontics this coming 2012 cycle. I was previously an OMFS resident but resigned after my first year knowing I would be more happy in orthodontics long term. (I was one of those students who liked both specialties throughout dental school) Physicians frequently decide to pursue a different residency than they had initially chosen so it is not a big deal. In the dental community, however, people seem to get alarmed when this sort of thing happens.

Can you tell me how often you have seen this circumstance and if you know of any opinions you or your attendings have about applicants such as myself? Also, would you please share any thought you have on how I should adapt my application or present myself in an interview given my background?
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smogdodger said:
I am applying to orthodontics this coming 2012 cycle. I was previously an OMFS resident but resigned after my first year knowing I would be more happy in orthodontics long term. (I was one of those students who liked both specialties throughout dental school) Physicians frequently decide to pursue a different residency than they had initially chosen so it is not a big deal. In the dental community, however, people seem to get alarmed when this sort of thing happens.

Can you tell me how often you have seen this circumstance and if you know of any opinions you or your attendings have about applicants such as myself? Also, would you please share any thought you have on how I should adapt my application or present myself in an interview given my background?
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You're extremely defensive. Everyone I know who has stopped one residency to pursue another (all 3 of them) have all made sure to get great letters of rec from the prog director of the residency they're leaving. If they endorse you it shows they liked you and wish you'd have stayed, but support your career change. If you don't get that then they'll assume u stopped bc no one can stand you, or you couldn't cut it.

Your stats are probably pretty good, so your whole app/interview will have to be proving that OS wasn't for you but that you're way committed to ortho

I don't think itll be so hard. Like u said, this stuff happens...and ortho is pretty much all based on stats anyways
 
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its the toughest next to implantology... This is the only advice. Plunge if you have a breaker CV, something that'll shatter the rest of the applicants.... Simple, really...
 
I have seen it quite a few times between my classmates and while I interviewed. I don't think it is anything to be concerned about I would just be honest and open about it. Talk about why you decided to change and don't try to hide anything. I think you will be fine.
 
Why would anyone go from OMFS to ortho? Isn't OMFS kind of Boss? Money & power.
 
yappy said:
Why would anyone go from OMFS to ortho? Isn't OMFS kind of Boss? Money & power.
Click to expand...

OMFS is a career, not a hobby. If you don't like the patients/cases you are seeing every day and you start to hate going to work, then your career can be a major drag. It boils down to personality. Maybe OMFS is "Boss" for you. Not for me. After the first 100 facial fractures and countless lacs... trauma loses some of its excitement. Cases of osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, SCC, BRONJ, and severe TMD are exciting the first several times...but it is a career after all. I didn't ever plan to do private practice. I liked the OR. If you find that you hate dealing with those (i.e. academic-referral) patients post-op... your job starts to suck the life out of you. You will also find that many of the indigent patients who frequent such hospitals feel that something is owed to them...not a lot of gratitude for you draining the pus out of their head at 2am. After the excitement wore off, I found that it was a career; one that I no longer enjoyed. It is stupid to do something you don't enjoy for 30yrs even if it pays well.

Anhedonia, thank you for mentioning JediWendell. I will look up those posts.
 
The fact that you made a decision to switch careers after starting one shows that you are taking your life seriously... To me that takes courage. It seems to me that many dental students go into residencies for all the wrong reasons. Some will lie to themselves for the rest of their lives trying to reassure themselves about their decision. It's pretty easy to know who they are if you ask the right Q's... Others will say things like "Why would anyone go from OMFS to ortho? Isn't OMFS kind of Boss? Money & power" and become very quick to judge and short-tempered. I think you took care of the hardest phase already...

I would say this, make sure you know what you could have done before going into OMFS (maybe more exposure/knowledge to the everyday life of the resident) that could have made you avoid starting residency. Identifying something that you could have done differently may help you make sure it doesn't happen again in ortho. Interviewers will ask you " how can u be sure (or us) that it won't happen again?" Your answer will likely carry a lot of weight in their final decision. Also letters of rec from current OMFS faculty, as mentioned earlier, is a great advice.

Good luck, and congratulations on taking a bold decision!
 
The fact that you made a decision to switch careers after starting one shows that you are taking your life seriously... To me that takes courage. It seems to me that many dental students go into residencies for all the wrong reasons. Some will lie to themselves for the rest of their lives trying to reassure themselves about their decision. It's pretty easy to know who they are if you ask the right Q's... Others will say things like "Why would anyone go from OMFS to ortho? Isn't OMFS kind of Boss? Money & power" and become very quick to judge and short-tempered. I think you took care of the hardest phase already...

I would say this, make sure you know what you could have done before going into OMFS (maybe more exposure/knowledge to the everyday life of the resident) that could have made you avoid starting residency. Identifying something that you could have done differently may help you make sure it doesn't happen again in ortho. Interviewers will ask you " how can u be sure (or us) that it won't happen again?" Your answer will likely carry a lot of weight in their final decision. Also letters of rec from current OMFS faculty, as mentioned earlier, is a great advice.

Good luck, and congratulations on taking a bold decision!
 
smogdodger said:
OMFS is a career, not a hobby. If you don't like the patients/cases you are seeing every day and you start to hate going to work, then your career can be a major drag. It boils down to personality. Maybe OMFS is "Boss" for you. Not for me. After the first 100 facial fractures and countless lacs... trauma loses some of its excitement. Cases of osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, SCC, BRONJ, and severe TMD are exciting the first several times...but it is a career after all. I didn't ever plan to do private practice. I liked the OR. If you find that you hate dealing with those (i.e. academic-referral) patients post-op... your job starts to suck the life out of you. You will also find that many of the indigent patients who frequent such hospitals feel that something is owed to them...not a lot of gratitude for you draining the pus out of their head at 2am. After the excitement wore off, I found that it was a career; one that I no longer enjoyed. It is stupid to do something you don't enjoy for 30yrs even if it pays well.

Anhedonia, thank you for mentioning JediWendell. I will look up those posts.
Click to expand...

Great post...hopefully some pre-dent and dental students read it because i think that sometimes people will pursue a specialty based on perceived notions rather than legitimate and tangible facts
 
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