AEGD/GPR vs Private Practice then residency....

[Turnpike]

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[Demeter]

What specialty are you thinking about? I think that GPR residents have the advantage for OMS and and Pedo because they will be familiar with hospital protocols.

 

[drhobie7]

As far as I know this only is an issue for endo residency. For OMS if you don't come in straight out of dental school you should be doing an OMS internship not a GPR. I wouldn't think ortho would care either way.

 

[rarm1]

One problem you forgot... many AEGD/GPRs train students who just graduated to general practice... a few refuse to accept a student wishes a speciality.... Others, like ours, help the resident seek their potential/dreams.

Often it may be hard to do a residency from practice... its going back to school... but that is why many speciality programs would like to see some one in practice try a shorter (AEGD,GPR) before applying

 

[Turnpike]

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[Dr. Dai Phan]

The reason I ask is because I am uncertain of what direction I want to take. I know OMFS, Ortho, Endo is not for me. Pedo, prosth, and to a lesser extent perio spark more of an interest. I don't want to apply to a program while in dental school, and I feel this fire burning inside me to get out in the 'real world' and work. But I don't want to shoot myself in the foot being in private practice when there's a GPR out there that will prep me better for a possible specialty path.

Hi there,

It would be much more difficulty to start a practice then going back to a specialty training. I have heard countless people saying that they will go back after a year in PP but I have yet to see one holding to their words. If you know that you want to specialize but don't know which one, then do a GPR or AEGD or both (like me) then you will know what field you want to concentrate on. I could not choose between OS,perio and pros after graduating from DS. Two years spent in AEGD and GPR make me realized that maxillofacial pros. is what I wanted to become. Take your time and you will find your niche. DP

 

[woody2]

You sound a lot like I felt when I was a 4th-year dental student. I didn't know what I wanted to specialize in, but I was pretty sure I wanted to specialize. I decided to work in PP for a year or two to hone my interests, see what appealed to me in a non-school environment. I went from school to a Associateship position doing general dentistry on mostly kids. I originally thought I wanted to do endo, maybe OMFS, didn't really consider ortho because our DDS program skimmed over it. Once in practice I realized what I liked and didn't like about practicing, and I realized I wanted to do ortho and would really not like doing endo or OMFS.

I really think my Associateship helped me get into the program I did for ortho on the first try. Many faculty noticed me because I went out of private practice back to school (which was unusual for ortho), they knew my dedication to the specialty because I was giving up 150K per year in current income to go back to school, they knew I had based my decision on 2 years of real-world experience in private practice and I truly knew what I wanted in a career, and they loved that I had experience seeing patients (especially kids and teens) because they felt it would make me a better resident to the ortho patients.

My dental school stats were good, but not ortho good, so I really think the experience made the difference. During the interview process I spoke with some other interviewees who said there are ortho programs that prefer applicants with private practice experience (hospital-based programs), whereas the university programs look at stats more. I didn't know that before I applied, so I didn't apply to any hospital-based programs, but luckily a university appreciated my experience and I was accepted.

If I could change anything I did before applying, it would be to get research experience in dental school. Many programs didn't like that I didn't have research, even if I did have 2 years of PP experience. And the thought of trying to do research once in private practice was really challenging.

 

[Plaque Assassin]

Indecision is pretty common when faced with graduation. The "real world" is big and scary to someone who has been in school so long. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do either so I did a GPR and I learned that I like a little of everything in my practice and I was also able to focus on learning some advanced procedures in certain areas.

If you are unsure what you want to do I suggest a GPR or AEGD. It is applicable to any specialty because they are general practices. We have grads from my GPR in endo, ortho, OMS, pedo and perio. Most feel the GPR made them better applicants and are happy they did it. You have to find the right one though. Some only offer limited experiences and have bad patient populations, old facilities and few assistants. Look for a program with a variety of procedures.

A private pratice is difficult to leave because of the money and the experience there could be very limited based on where you work. Some hiring dentists don't want you doing anything but hygiene checks and fillings the first year. You will learn more in residency in less time. Also consider that recommendations from program directors and hospital attendings may carry more weight with selection committees at specialty programs than the guy you work for.

I have talked to half a dozen people who have graduated from GPRs and are now in private practice 5-10 years. They all agreed with a saying my program director once heard. "1 year of GPR is worth 5 years of private practice"

Good Luck!!

 

[woody2]

Hi,
If you don't mind me asking, what were your part 1 scores and class rank? Which are the hospital based programs that like private practice experience? Congratulations on getting into ortho!

part 1 score: 91
class rank: 80/81

from word of mouth, the programs that liked private practice experience were these:
vanderbilt
montefiore
st. barnabus
rochester

 

[gryffindor]

A private pratice is difficult to leave because of the money and the experience there could be very limited based on where you work. Some hiring dentists don't want you doing anything but hygiene checks and fillings the first year. You will learn more in residency in less time. Also consider that recommendations from program directors and hospital attendings may carry more weight with selection committees at specialty programs than the guy you work for.

Agreed.

If you are considering the AEGD/GPR route prior to commiting to a specialty, make sure the programs you are looking at offer either of the followinig:

1) Lots of experience in practicing all disciplines - endo, perio, prostho, OMS, pedo, ortho.

2) Lots of attendings who are specialists so that if the practice in the disciplines is lacking, at least you can network with the specialists and learn more about the specialty vs. GP that way. They will also be able to write you some LORs and you never know when this might help you during application time.

I did both - a year of GPR and a year of private practice before I will start ortho this summer. I think both were valuable in reaffirming my decision to specialize. If I had to pick one over the other I would think GPR/AEGD because it keeps you in an academic setting. Keep in mind though that applications for specialties are due in the fall meaning you have to start working on them over the summer, almost immediately after you arrive at your GPR or private practice job. It may not be enough time to figure out what you want to do so it might take you an extra year if you do decide to specialize.

As far as getting too comfortable in private practice - depends on what you want. I like some of the things private practice allows me such as less responsibility as an associate doctor, paycheck, time to purse some CE & practice management. But I am happy to leave it for specialty training so I can practice dentistry the way I want. If you are happy doing GP, then it is easy to get comfortable. But if you have your heart set on a specialty and you get in, the decision to leave it might not be so hard then.

 

[woody2]

part 1 score: 91
class rank: 80/81

from word of mouth, the programs that liked private practice experience were these:
vanderbilt
montefiore
st. barnabus
rochester

whoops, i meant 8/81. big difference.

 

[Rezdawg]

whoops, i meant 8/81. big difference.

Damn...and I was starting to think there was hope. 😀

 

[ktcook83]

Damn...and I was starting to think there was hope. 😀