Curious About the Future of OMFS—Advice for a Dental Student?

[Schindlerelactobaciloma]

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Hi everyone,
I’m a dental student hoping to match into OMFS, and I’ve been thinking about where the field is headed.


What do you see as the biggest challenges OMFS will face in the next 10–20 years?
Is the field still growing, or are things shifting?


And for someone like me—just starting out—what’s the best way to prepare for what’s coming?


Would really appreciate any insight or advice. Thanks so much!

 

[SuxDrugs&Rocuronium]

Is this @yorta’s second account? OMFS questions nonstop

 

[throwaway20]

Simultaneously providing mod/deep sedation while performing surgery. Long term changes very possible but no immediate changes on the horizon

 

[Colastick]

No one knows but i think all fields of dentistry including omfs are feeling the pinch due to ever high number of new grads, insurance reimbursements not keeping up with inflation, private equity encroachment and rising staff cost.

 

[D1Bound]

Simultaneously providing mod/deep sedation while performing surgery. Long term changes very possible but no immediate changes on the horizon

It will be interesting to see how this develops. OMS has an impeccable track record of safety in anesthesia, but there politics are involved and people want to change their anesthesia model.

 

[somefuturedoc]

No specialty is future proof and it’s impossible to know how they’ll change. Choose OMFS for the love of the game, not based on anonymous people’s opinions. Also if you really want to become an OMFS, I recommend spending all this SDN time on CBSE studying instead.

 

[JacquesVallee]

OMS has an impeccable track record of safety in anesthesia, but there politics involved and people want to change their anesthesia model.

There are a lot of anesthesiologists who are very strongly against it

 

[D1Bound]

There are a lot of anesthesiologists who are very strongly against it

Of course they are. But OMS would argue they are safe and quick with their anesthesia.

 

[JacquesVallee]

Of course they are. But OMS would argue they are safe and quick with their anesthesia.

I know nothing on the safety of it, but I've seen a lot of threads on the anesthesia section of SDN and reddit from anesthesiologists who despise the OMFS anesthesia model. I could certainly see them lobbying to change it.

 

[Allsmiles!]

I know nothing on the safety of it, but I've seen a lot of threads on the anesthesia section of SDN and reddit from anesthesiologists who despise the OMFS anesthesia model. I could certainly see them lobbying to change it.

Safety does matter and OMFS has an excellent track record. This is such a tired argument…anesthesiologist fought against and despise CRNA’s and their current model, how is that going? In reality, I see way more CRNA’s in the hospital than anesthesiologist and CRNA’s are gaining a lot of autonomy outside of the hospital. The least of OMFS worries are what anesthesiologist think…anesthesiologist have no bearing in this matter. Or, at least, as much as they did when they went up against CRNA’s.

 

[Schindlerelactobaciloma]

Is this @yorta’s second account? OMFS questions nonstop

who is yorta? I'm new here. Was he famous?

 

[Schindlerelactobaciloma]

No one knows but i think all fields of dentistry including omfs are feeling the pinch due to ever high number of new grads, insurance reimbursements not keeping up with inflation, private equity encroachment and rising staff cost.

Thank you for the insights!

 

[Schindlerelactobaciloma]

No specialty is future proof and it’s impossible to know how they’ll change. Choose OMFS for the love of the game, not based on anonymous people’s opinions. Also if you really want to become an OMFS, I recommend spending all this SDN time on CBSE studying instead.

You're right, going back to UWorld right now 🫡

 

[Life of Pablo]

No one knows but i think all fields of dentistry including omfs are feeling the pinch due to ever high number of new grads, insurance reimbursements not keeping up with inflation, private equity encroachment and rising staff cost.

Idk about OMFS. It’s a hospital based residency, which restricts the number of spots. One of these new private dental schools can’t just open an OMFS program (think MWU, Western, etc). I think the increase in dental schools actually favors OMFS because you’re graduating more general dentists (referral sources) without increasing the number of OMFS by the same proportion.

In addition, more women are entering dentistry every year compared to men. I think my class was 65% women and 35% men? Say what you will, women are more likely to enter fields like pediatrics or ortho than OMFS.

 

[omfsing]

Keep it simple: do what interests you

Don’t worry about what can be or about what your bow tie wearing dental school colleague says, “specialties are dying.”

No one can predict the future

Good luck

 

[Colastick]

Idk about OMFS. It’s a hospital based residency, which restricts the number of spots. One of these new private dental schools can’t just open an OMFS program (think MWU, Western, etc). I think the increase in dental schools actually favors OMFS because you’re graduating more general dentists (referral sources) without increasing the number of OMFS by the same proportion.

In addition, more women are entering dentistry every year compared to men. I think my class was 65% women and 35% men? Say what you will, women are more likely to enter fields like pediatrics or ortho than OMFS.

I disagree.

When the GPs around you feel the pinch, they keep more procedures in house (whether or not they are qualified to do those) and all the specialists that get referrals from those GPs also suffer.

Omfs is part of dental ecosystem and it cant thrive without the healthy referral sources.

 

[D1Bound]

I disagree.

When the GPs around you feel the pinch, they keep more procedures in house (whether or not they are qualified to do those) and all the specialists that get referrals from those GPs also suffer.

Omfs is part of dental ecosystem and it cant thrive without the healthy referral sources.

And when GPs screw up and OMS stop bailing them out because they’re not referring, or patients give the GP a bad rep because they’re cowboying around with things they shouldn’t, not good

 

[yappy]

I think the future will likely be stable for most dental specialties. However, as I mentioned in another thread, residency class sizes can be increased, or new programs can be created. Just look at the changes in job market conditions for fields like radiation oncology or emergency medicine.

In terms of “risks,” I think if general dentists, periodontists, and prosthodontists become more comfortable with dentoalveolar surgery, it could reduce the number of predictable and profitable cases for OMS. But the same dynamic could apply to any specialty.

While the idea of a “super GP” gets a lot of discussion, I don’t think it’s common or likely to become widespread. I agree with the commenter who said you should pursue the specialty that genuinely interests you most.

As @Colastick pointed out, dental specialists don’t operate in isolation as they typically rely on referrals. The best outcome for everyone is to keep the entire dental ecosystem financially healthy. In my opinion, the two biggest current challenges are student loan burdens and declining insurance reimbursement.