I asked this same question of an army dentist in San Antonio via the internet. The way it was explained to me was that the Army sends its HPSP students info on residency training before graduation somewhere around the third or fourth year. From what I gathered, it is feasible to go straight into residency, but not guaranteed and even more difficult if the residency you want is not what the army needs. It is important to remember that the needs of the military can and do change.
As I understand it, the Army and Navy need endodontists and oral surgeons more than anything else, but no so much ortho and prosthodontics. So if you want endo or omfs, you are in better shape than anyone else except those that want a general practice residency, which is especially true in the Army. The reasoning behind this is that the Army has its own AEGD(advanced education in general dentistry) residency lasting two years. In this program, a participating dentist would complete rotations in all specialties of dentistry giving them sound experience and confidence in everything from oral surgery to endo to ortho to prosthodontics, a virtual jack of all trades. One factor to consider is that participating in an AEGD program with the Army or GP (General Practice) residency with the Navy increases the likelihood that you will get sent to a field unit or on board a ship respectively. Once again, it is not set in stone, but chances are greater. The situation changes somewhat when you are stationed with a field unit because you will be required to pt more often than not and/or participate in field exercises with your unit when necessary. In other words, you may spend more time away from the dental clinic than you thought before you joined. This is all dependant on the expectations of the individual dentist(soldier) and/or the officer in charge who may or may not be a dentist.
It should be noted that many dentists find the AEGD to be of great value to them especially if they plan to work in private practice someday. The idea behind this is that since they received such a thorough introduction and practice in all phases of dentistry, they would be able to handle more complex and expensive cases in the civilian world, which means less referrals to specialists and more money they can make on their own. One dentist who went through the AEGD in the Army said he felt comfortable doing just about anything in dentistry from full sedation surgery to complex endo which can be a huge advantage monetarily, but still referred patients to specialists when he wanted to.
At the end of the day, the decision to participate in the HPSP and what type of residency program (civilian or military) is heavily dependant upon what type of dentistry you want to practice either in the military or in the civilian world. This can be a huge choice. I debated what type of residency I wanted to pursue virtually my entire sophomore year in college, and didn't really decide on OMFS until I observed a local oral surgeon.
According to the recruiters I spoke with, it is looked at as a plus to have completed your first tour or payback service period and then specialize, but it is not impossible to go straight through. Some members on this forum have said that almost no one goes straight through, while some have said they know of some that have gone straight through. It is believable that more HPSP students could go straight through towards residency training than actually do, but decide otherwise to prevent incurring more service time obligation.
However, it is possible to complete your specialty training and not incur an additional service time. For example, if you are a 4yr HPSP student who gets an endo or omfs residency with the Navy three and four years respectively, you would only owe the Navy the 4yr with the endo(1 HPSP not paid back yet and 3 with the endo) and 4yr with the omfs. In the other words, the time is run concurrently since you essentially started your HPSP payback period while attending a military residency. Remember, while in a military residency, you are a full time active duty soldier whose number one job is to complete the residency successfully and the military's needs since afterwards they will have their own specialist. Afterwards, you need only pay the service back for whatever service time from the HPSP your residency didn't cover, if any at all, and the service time for the residency itself.
As we've discussed previously in this thread. Some people match out of dental school into civilian residencies and take the FAP thus incurring additional service time. A 4yr HPSP student who takes a 6yr omfs residency would owe the service 11yrs total(4 for HPSP and 7 for the 6yr omfs civilian residency since the FAP is 2yrs for the first yr and 1yr for each year thereafter) so you can see why some people decide to complete the first tour first before they decide to apply for specialty training since they can decide if they like the service or not and get out or stay in depending.
In many ways this is the most logical option since you could realistically be unhappy for 4 yrs or 11yrs if you don't like the military. Like any equation, the more variables involved increases the difficulty of getting to the solution. These conditions are less of a concern with prior service since you have a military background and some idea of how military life is like. If you do the general tour for HPSP payback you could easily get out of the service and complete a civilian residency at a relatively young age and in good financial shape.
I hope this helps. It is always good to seek as many avenues as possible to get your questions answered especially when making decisions as important as those we've discussed. God Bless.
P.S. The email of the Army Dentist I spoke with was
Colonel Ann Sue von Gonten, D.D.S. email: [email protected]
Phone: 210-295-9604
The navy dentist I spoke with via email was
CAPT R.M. Taft, DC, USN
Director, Graduate Programs
Naval Medical Education and Training Command (NMETC)
email: [email protected]
The Air Force AEGD is one year to my knowledge
Thadeus M. Chamberlain, Lt Col, USAF, DC
Chief, Air Force Dental Education
email: [email protected]
Phone: 210-565-3619