AEGD, Specialize? What to do?

[TeethRgreat]

I'm going to be finishing up dental school soon and I need to start looking into my options. Ideally, I should be applying to residencies at the end of this year/beginning of next year. I feel like I so far do not have enough experience to really make a good decision about what I want to do yet. For a while I was into ortho, then it switched to prosth, then endo, then OS, etc. I have the class rank to specialize, and part of me thinks that it might be a waste of a year to take it off and work, plus I might lose my momentum in academia.

This may not sound right to a lot of you, but part of me feels that I want to "use" my class rank for something. There has to be a reason why I have been killing myself over the past few years to be in the top of my class, and I feel like I may be "wasting" it if I do not. I have pondered all the different specialities in my head but can't get myself to commit to any of them: OS - I like it, but too much school, I'm burned out as is, Pediatrics - Not that comfortable around children, Endo - Too stressful, Perio - Possibly but have literally gotten no experience with it at my school, Ortho- not my gig. I am in dentistry mainly for the money... please don't lecture me about it. I have expensive hobbies that I enjoy and dentistry is one of the professions that can support them financially, and also it's something I can see myself doing every day (I don't love it, but I don't hate it either).

Does anyone have any suggestions or have been in a similar situation? I'm thinking about an AEGD, what are the most competitive ones and why? The advice is appreciated, thanks!

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[Bobby Fischer]

I'm going to be finishing up dental school soon and I need to start looking into my options. Ideally, I should be applying to residencies at the end of this year/beginning of next year. I feel like I so far do not have enough experience to really make a good decision about what I want to do yet. For a while I was into ortho, then it switched to prosth, then endo, then OS, etc. I have the class rank to specialize, and part of me thinks that it might be a waste of a year to take it off and work, plus I might lose my momentum in academia.

This may not sound right to a lot of you, but part of me feels that I want to "use" my class rank for something. There has to be a reason why I have been killing myself over the past few years to be in the top of my class, and I feel like I may be "wasting" it if I do not. I have pondered all the different specialities in my head but can't get myself to commit to any of them: OS - I like it, but too much school, I'm burned out as is, Pediatrics - Not that comfortable around children, Endo - Too stressful, Perio - Possibly but have literally gotten no experience with it at my school, Ortho- not my gig. I am in dentistry mainly for the money... please don't lecture me about it. I have expensive hobbies that I enjoy and dentistry is one of the professions that can support them financially, and also it's something I can see myself doing every day (I don't love it, but I don't hate it either).

Does anyone have any suggestions or have been in a similar situation? I'm thinking about an AEGD, what are the most competitive ones and why? The advice is appreciated, thanks!

I think you've lectured yourself enough already.

You know the score if you really stop and think.

The next phase is reversing the denial and admitting you've put yourself in a corner.

 

[caffeinehigh]

All of your options, including practicing as a GP with or without GPR/AEGD or specializing CAN get you great financial reward.

A good reason to specialize is because you CAN get that reward doing the aspect of dentistry that you enjoy. Certainly advanced training to get financial gain is a consideration, but if you hate what you're doing, it will make the training that much harder to stomach.

BL - Do what you want to do, not what you think is good for your pocket book.