Ask an OMS resident anything

Started by armorshell
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ake said:
Thanks armor, that's good to hear. Kinda related: should you plan your first 1-2 externships as "throw-aways" i.e. select programs that you're not really interested in so that you don't leave a bad impression while you're still green? Saving the best for last when you're most prepared and closet to applications makes sense...to me at least.
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I don't think you need to plan early externships as throwaways. I'd just make sure they know you're new to this at your first externship and they'll probably be very comfortable helping you along. When I evaluate externs, I generally look at their attitude, effort and personality long before I start thinking about their technical skills. I'd way rather have someone who asked solid questions and was involved and interested than someone who did great but didn't talk to anyone the entire time.
 
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armorshell said:
I don't think you need to plan early externships as throwaways. I'd just make sure they know you're new to this at your first externship and they'll probably be very comfortable helping you along. When I evaluate externs, I generally look at their attitude, effort and personality long before I start thinking about their technical skills. I'd way rather have someone who asked solid questions and was involved and interested than someone who did great but didn't talk to anyone the entire time.
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aren't externs supposed to fly low? ie. shut up and work. speak when spoken to? haha
 
samueltak said:
Is it a normal practice for oral surgeons to sedate patients w/ propofol, ketamine, remifentanil, and Versed for this procedure? Do you think the dentist is at fault and does this kind of incidence occur due to negligence or out-of-blue from natural, random causes? If it's due to something out of your control, do oral surgeons usually worry about this kind of occurrence?
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Multiple drug sedations are pretty routine for OMS. I don't know the details of the case well enough to comment on where fault lies, but the outcome (agreeing with board to reitre) seems to point towards it being potentially due to some negligence on the OMS part. If I recall correctly the dentist in this case was also of advanced age (Looked it up, he was 81!), and the patient was very young (13, much younger than your average wisdom tooth patient).

samueltak said:
The same oral surgeon mentioned above was also sued for another wrongful death about a decade ago. Is he just a very unlucky surgeon who managed to have two patients die from general anesthesia and do most OMFS (>99%) never see an accidental death during their career?
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Anesthesia administered by OMS has an excellent safety track record. The mortality rate recorded in the literature is somewhere around 1:500,000, so I think it's safe to say that the majority of OMS will never have a fatality.
 
BU or USC for dental school. Want to do a 6yr residency and can't decide which school will put me in a better position.
 
trinstudent said:
How would you describe a typical day (besides "everyday is different")?
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Can't really give you a typical day...do you want a typical day as:
1. OMFS intern
2. 2nd year med student
3. 3rd year med student
4. Anesthesia intern
5. Gen Surg intern
6. OMS senior at county hospital
7. OMS senior at private hospital
8. OMS senior at VA

All of these things are pretty disparate.
 
armorshell said:
Can't really give you a typical day...do you want a typical day as:
1. OMFS intern
2. 2nd year med student
3. 3rd year med student
4. Anesthesia intern
5. Gen Surg intern
6. OMS senior at county hospital
7. OMS senior at private hospital
8. OMS senior at VA

All of these things are pretty disparate.
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Good point, didn't think about that. How about 1 vs. 6 or 7, if you don't mind?
 
Armor,

Besides your incredible rank and board scores, how would you rank your clinical skills among your classmates during your D3 and D4 years? By 2nd semester of D4, were you able to extract just about any tooth? Were there any procedures (surgical or non-surgical) that made you question your abilities? Or did you excel at all facets of clinical dentistry?
 
Regarding class rank, could one of you comment on whether the top 10% are really the only applications considered/accepted into programs?

The reason I ask is because one of the oral surgeons I shadowed in private practice had admitted that he was not in the top 10% of his class. He is a single degree OMS.

Secondly, a previous oral surgeon at my dental school had admitted that he wasn't part of the 10% of his class at all and he is a double degree OMS.

I realize class rank is important and we've only been told top tiered applicants are the expectation, but are all residents really in the top 10%?

Thanks in advance.
 
Thank you for doing this. I have a few questions that I would like to ask.

1. What are the differences if you have the MD license? Can you do more and what are the benefits of having the MD?

2. Do you go to medical school and take classes during the 6 year program and how does this work?

3. During the 6 years, what part (year wise) do you pay for and what part (year wise) are you paid?

4. Since you will have a DDS, can you practice on the side during residency?

Thank you in advance!:luck:
 
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Would you have still gone this route without a scholarship to cover dental school? Loan interest seems to be a big turnaway....at least for me.

Sent from my DROIDX using SDN Mobile
 
OutRun said:
For any current OMS resident, not just armorshell, who could graciously answer:

What is a typical arrangement for junior residents to moonlight for programs that allow moonlighting? Specifically, how much is one practically able to work during the medical school years to help keep expenses down during OMS residency? Having a family to support in the midst of six-figure student loans accruing interest has me keen on inquiring.
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?
 
armorshell said:
Unfortunately I'm not. problem with these type of programs is that even if you get the MD in two years, you still need to do an additional year of medical residency to license it, so you're really looking at a 3 year track. I don't really think very many people take advantage of the programs that do exist though.
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I've heard of some programs where you have an optional MD at the end--are these 7 year programs, then?
 
I'm looking at putting my rank list together (all 6 year) and had a question on comparing curriculum across programs. Obviously, more months on service is better and all seem to have the same 5 months on Anesthesia and 12 months as Chief, but...

Does a shorter intern period in favor of heavier backloading in the senior years lend itself to better overall training?

How valuable (or not) are Gen Surg months? How much is too little or too much? I've heard about the 2 year vs. 1 year certificate issue for various states, but I'm expecting that to be a non-issue...am I wrong?

I guess all this boils down to the relative value of 1 month of: Intern vs. Med School vs. Gen Surg vs. Senior...how would you weight each of those?

Would love to get your thoughts and thanks in advance.
 
@tommyjohns Holy ****. Thanks for digging this up from the crap buried in this forum.

Very useful for someone looking to specialize in OMFS.
 
DentalDoge said:
@tommyjohns Holy ****. Thanks for digging this up from the crap buried in this forum.

Very useful for someone looking to specialize in OMFS.
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Haha good luck man! I remember when I was in your shoes.

And actually, my bad, I think I resurrected the wrong thread (longtime lurker, I was looking for another one in the other forum).
 
armorshell said:
Did this last year to avoid studying for a test and it went well, so let's do it again (for the same reason).

TO my OMS compadres, please feel free to jump in.

I'm a 2nd year OMS resident, ask me absolutely anything.
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Hello,
I have just completed MDS ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY from India and I want to take the DSCKE exams in Canada. What is the stipend range you receive for thisand what is the average tuition fees if you get selected for the masters oral surgery program? . Also can u help me how is the DSCKE exam like, how many questions in 3hours etc. Waiting for your reply. Your help is much appreciated brother. Thank you
 
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