Army Dentistry

[ElCid]

My deal: I am an army Brat. To date 23 years. Ive lived everywhere from the tropics of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii to the boondocks of Ft. Polk Louisiana.
I went to The Citadel and am currently a PhD (microbiology) student at Indiana University after turning down USUHS (pathology PhD). Im trying to get into dental school and then into the military.
Im somewhat biased. I grew up in the Army and know many Army dentists but I dont know many people my age who are HPSP. I have one classmate from The Citadel who is HPSP Army/MUSC but I have never talked to him about it.
I recently had the opportunity to meet a large group of Army Dentists. However, the only Army Dentists I met were aging Lieutenant Cols and Colonels who would only tell me the "great things" about the Army (probalby due to my dads boot up their asses).

Id like to know how YOUNG dentists and army HPSP dental students feel about their decisions. Id also like to know about how the different services compare to eachother. Do AF dentists have a better experience than Army or Navy Dentists?

ANY info would be greatly appreciated. Heck, tell me your life story. I just want info! .

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[natedizzle]

I'm wondering about the same things you are. Come on people read this post and give us some info!

 

[Dadoh]

My deal: I am an army Brat. To date 23 years. Ive lived everywhere from the tropics of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii to the boondocks of Ft. Polk Louisiana.
I went to The Citadel and am currently a PhD (microbiology) student at Indiana University after turning down USUHS (pathology PhD). Im trying to get into dental school and then into the military.
Im somewhat biased. I grew up in the Army and know many Army dentists but I dont know many people my age who are HPSP. I have one classmate from The Citadel who is HPSP Army/MUSC but I have never talked to him about it.
I recently had the opportunity to meet a large group of Army Dentists. However, the only Army Dentists I met were aging Lieutenant Cols and Colonels who would only tell me the "great things" about the Army (probalby due to my dads boot up their asses).

Id like to know how YOUNG dentists and army HPSP dental students feel about their decisions. Id also like to know about how the different services compare to eachother. Do AF dentists have a better experience than Army or Navy Dentists?

ANY info would be greatly appreciated. Heck, tell me your life story. I just want info! .

I am in my third year of dental school and am on the hpsp. As far as being in dental school, it is great. Finances are taken care of, so that I can just focus on dental school. Many of my classmates are working part-time jobs while trying to study and finish projects. My school has it set up so that I don't have to worry about reimbursment for anything except health insurance. They charge the army at the begining and middle of the year and I only take out a couple of extra federally subsidized loans to live off of since the stipend doesn't go far enough to cover my family's expenses. They keep me updated and let me know if I forgot to send in any paperwork (which happened one time). They pretty much leave you alone during school to get everything done. It is also nice because I think that every dental sschool has some retired colonels that can help you. This is the same for all branches of the military. There are several students here from each branch, and they all say the same.
As far as being a military dentist. I have a few friends that have given me their honest opinions. All have been very positive with the respect of getting to practice, gain speed, and confidence without having to worry about the problems of running an office or being an associate to someone. They have also said that since their commanders are also dentists that although it is a military lifestyle it is more laid back. Also for the most part you are seeing one patient at a time and if you are not a large base where residents are trained then you get a large range of experience. Civilian associates can end up doing lots of mundane procedures and seeing lots of patients in order to pay off loans. It is also nice to have a paying job waiting for you right out of school, whereas all of your friends will be frantically trying to finish up what they have to do for graduation, passing boards, and looking for a job. The stress is on, because since most everybody consolidates their loans they don't have a grace period and payments start immediately. I have heard from my friends that since I am in the army I can be guaranteed to be deployed at some time and the deployments are running ~1year in the Army. I have heard that they might be shorter in the Navy and I haven't heard much about AF except that they are less likely to be going to Iraq or Afganistan. They have told me that there is less chance of being deployed in AF, Navy, but there is no guaranty.
I would not change my decision about doing the HPSP. I would suggest going to a nice private school (make the military pay for the outrageous tuition) in a place that is cheap to live (the stipend goes further that way). For me I chose the Army because they offered a 4 year scholarship and the Navy recruiter went on vacation at the time that he was supposed to get my packet in, so it was late. If the Air Force would have offered a 4 year scholarship at that time, I would have taken it. Someone said that they might be doing 4year scholarships now, but last time I looked they didn't. I hope that this helped.

 

[dexadental]

I am a four year HPSP and just recently signed with the Navy, about to begin dental school this August at Nova - an extremley expensive private school with outrageous bills - so I'm definitely glad I made this decision. The way I see it, is you'll have to most likely pay someone back, either the bank or a boss, through money or time, so the military just made sense for me. In four years, you can do whatever you want, and are trained and experienced. I see the four years in the military as a sort of preparation for running a private practice in the future - while many of my classmates will probably be busting their behinds off as associates. Granted the money is better in the civilian world, the sacrifice pays for the entire tuition with zero debt + no need to find patients, scrap for a job, or buy into a practice...a sweet deal for me. Glad to see another dental student has found the HPSP program to be of benefit in school as well.

 

[natedizzle]

If you don't mind I was wondering if you could share with us your DAT, GPA, etc., which enabled you to secure the HPSP? I also would really like to know what the Air Force generally requires in order to secure the HPSP. That is the branch I would most like to go through, and I understand that it is also the most competitive. I am a strong candidate but I would just like some reasurance.

 

[natedizzle]

I also found this article while doing some research and I thought it might be of interest.

Medical students grow scarce

By Tom Philpott




The number of medical students accepting Army and Navy scholarships has fallen sharply over the past two years, in part because of the mayhem in Iraq as depicted in daily news reports, service medical leaders say.

A scholarship program that the Army surgeon general calls "our lifeblood" for recruiting physicians is failing to attract enough qualified applicants by wide margins, except in the Air Force.

Difficulties in recruiting the next generation of Army and Navy physicians and dentists have spurred the Senate to approve new authorities to dramatically increase medical bonuses and stipends. The increases are before a House-Senate conference committee and could win the full support of Congress by fall.

The services recruit roughly 70 percent of physicians and 80 percent of dentists through the Health Professions Scholarship Program, or HPSP. The rest graduate from a military-run medical school, accept military financial aid while in residency training or enter service as fully trained doctors.

HPSP scholars see full tuition covered in their civilian medical schools, plus books and fees, and receive a monthly stipend of $1,289. In return, students agree that for every year of schooling provided, they will serve a year as a military physician or dentist.

All the services had been meeting HPSP goals until fiscal 2005. The Navy had expected to sign 291 medical school students but could attract only 162. Numbers for fiscal 2006 look about the same or a little worse, said Vice Adm. Donald C. Arthur, the Navy surgeon general.

The Army in 2005 expected to award 307 scholarships. It fell 70 short. Through nine months of fiscal 2006, the Army has awarded 179 scholarships, 61 percent of its goal.

Dental school students are another concern. In fiscal 2004-05, the Navy hoped to sign 85 dental students under HPSP. It attracted 65. The Army last year awarded 10 fewer dental scholarships than the 93 planned. It also wanted to sign 30 dentists through direct accession but could get only 16.

With three months remaining in fiscal 2006, the Army Dental Corps has less than half the HPSP students it seeks � 54 of 115 � and has enticed seven of the 30 dentists planned to be brought in through direct accession.

Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army surgeon general, and Arthur, in separate interviews, blamed some of their downturn on news and images out of Iraq. Young people, Kiley said, "look at this and say either, 'I don't agree with our war,' or 'I sure don't want to be over there.' So they see signing up for a scholarship as tantamount to enlisting and going right into combat. (In fact) it's going to be anywhere from four to nine years before that would happen."

Kiley noted that more than half of medical school students are now women, a gender historically less interested in military service. Also, he said, the HPSP stipend of $1,279 a month "is not a lot to live on" and stay debt-free.

Arthur pointed out that more scholarship alternatives to HPSP are offered by large managed-care companies and even by rural communities sponsoring the education of students who become local doctors.

 

[Dadoh]

If you don't mind I was wondering if you could share with us your DAT, GPA, etc., which enabled you to secure the HPSP? I also would really like to know what the Air Force generally requires in order to secure the HPSP. That is the branch I would most like to go through, and I understand that it is also the most competitive. I am a strong candidate but I would just like some reasurance.

I can't remember exactly what my stats were, but I think that at that time the army was asking for 19 average on the DAT and maybe a 3.5GPA. You should probably ask the recruiter. If they know, they will let you know what it takes to be competitive. A recruiter most likely doesn't want to spend the time filling out all of the paperwork if you are not going to get it. Considering the there are short falls in recruiting they will probably likely to be less picky. I wouldn't expect the Air Force to ask for more than a 21 DAT and 3.5GPA. So, I would expect that if have that and write a professional application you should have it. Of course, you also have to pass the physical and not be a felon.

 

[natedizzle]

yeah I'm only really concerned with the physical at this point. I was perscribed an inhailer as a kid but never really used it. I run a lot now and think I have pretty good lungs. Plus I have broken a few bones but nothing major. I will be taking the physical is a week or so probably.

 

[dexadental]

Got the Navy HPSP with a 3.7 and 21 on the DAT...I think the scholarships aren't too competitive given the scarcity of applicants and the military's need for healthcare professionals.

 

[Dadoh]

yeah I'm only really concerned with the physical at this point. I was perscribed an inhailer as a kid but never really used it. I run a lot now and think I have pretty good lungs. Plus I have broken a few bones but nothing major. I will be taking the physical is a week or so probably.

Good luck with that. Just make sure that when they are checking you, make sure that they know that you will be an officer. I noticed that they are pretty brutal to you until they know that you are going to be an officer, then they change the way they treat you.

 

[pmoney]

I would reccomend talking to an AMEDD recruiter in your region and visting a local Army (or whatever service) dental clinic. I am planning on visiting Ft. Drum sometime before I consider seriously signing the dotted line.

And I agree, that all the previous HPSPers from back in the day are all COLs now and while they think everything was peachy back then it may not be the case right now. If one of these O5s or O6s are in the reserves, see if they can get a newer dentist's email who'd be willing to answer some of your questions. An O6 reserve dentist I know was recently called up and was in Germany for 6months. He hooked me up with the email of a fresh (<2 year) Dental School grad whose first OCONUS assignment was a small post in Germany.