Dental, Pre-Dentistry, Oral Surgery and the USAF

[UOP_Dentist]

Hello all,

I'm just introducing myself here in the mentor forums. I'm a dentist working for the great USAF. I graduated from UOP dental school in 2005. If you have any questions regarding dentistry, UOP, or the air force, you can PM me anytime.

Standard Questions

1. What do you enjoy most about your specialty?
Well, i'm not a specialist, but i'm applying to OMFS program. Why? I love the surgical aspect of dentistry, its close ties to medicine and well, i'm pretty good at it.

2. Is there anything you dislike about your specialty?
Sometimes it is very stressful and patient's lives are actually on the line.

3. How many years of post-graduate training does your specialty require?
4-6 depending if you want to do the MD route

4. What is a typical schedule like for your specialty? Are the hours/shifts flexible?
I'm not an OMFS, but their schedule is like medical doctors. You're on call alot (during residency) and if you work in the hospital, then you may have some strange hours. Otherwise, pvt practice is a 9-5 job.

5. Where do you see your specialty going in five years?
More and more people elect to have implants to replace missing teeth. In the near future when implants become more and more affordable, there will be a greater need to have experienced providers to place them

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[UOP_Dentist]

Dear UoP_Dentist,

I appreciate your offer to answer questions relating to the USAF and oral surgery. I'm a dental school applicant for 2008 and also considering applying for the Air Force HPSP. Although I'm mostly drawn towards general dentistry, I'd like to leave my options open for going into a specialty, oral surgery in particular, in the future.

My question is, if I go to school under the AF HPSP program, would I have the option of pursuing a civilian 6-yr OMFS residency right after I graduate, followed by repayment of the years I'd owe the Air Force once I become an oral surgeon? Or would I strictly be limited to pursuing a military oral surgery program, or otherwise be required to serve four years back first thing upon graduating prior to seeking civilian training?

If I'd indeed have the option to pursue a civilian residency right after graduating, would I incur any additional years of payback for delaying my military service during residency?

Thank you in advance!

ddhm,

Here is the answer to your question, you have two options:

1) Do the civilian 6yr program right after DS (yes it is allowed). But you will enter the AF as an OMFS (which would give you a higher than normal chance of deployment and/or limited selection of bases.....that is if you care about that sort of things). You would only be required to serve the amount you are contracted for. The AF is short on dentists and even shorter on OMFS. So by delaying your service for 6 years to get an OMFS is a good deal for them.

2. Do your 4 and out. At your 4th year you can apply to all the civ OMFS programs in the nation and as a backup you can include the 2 programs at Lackland or Travis (which are considerably less competitive). You'll have the edge up on most applicants and especially the AF. Because you are threatening to leave the AF if they don't accpt you.

However, always get things in writing before you sign on for anything

 

[UOP_Dentist]

Hi,

I am currently a junior and studying for the DAT. I am shooting for the 2009 cycle. I was wondering how you liked UoP. I know the program is for three years.. did you think it went too quickly? the whole curriculum? or do you think it was pretty adequately paced?

Thank you!

It was perfect. I believe 4 years is overkill and redundant. There is so many ways to make learning dentistry efficient and i believe UOP covered all the bases and more. The only thing i wished more was having the extra year to spend time with the great friends that i made.

good luck

 

[zubs]

Hi,

I'm planning on joining one of the branches of the military when I go to dental school and I just have a few questions about your experience in the air force:

-Do the General Dentists do work that is similiar to civilian dentists?

-How much input do you have on what base you are assigned?

-On average, how many hours per week do the Dentists work?

-How has the air force been so far?

 

[UOP_Dentist]

Hi,

I'm planning on joining one of the branches of the military when I go to dental school and I just have a few questions about your experience in the air force:

-Do the General Dentists do work that is similiar to civilian dentists?

-How much input do you have on what base you are assigned?

-On average, how many hours per week do the Dentists work?

-How has the air force been so far?

Sorry for the rather late reply, but to answer your question:

Yes, the AF officer do work that is the same as those in private practice. In fact we have civilian dentist working in contract position in the clinic as well.

I had alot of input in what base i was assigned to because i told the recruiter and the officer in charge of assignments that i would not join the AF unless i received my base preference. Unfortunately, someone from this clinic had to transfer to make room for me.

The AF has been great and it's really enjoyable but at times it can be boring and tedious.

hope this helps,

please PM me for any more questions

 

[joeljose07]

respected sir/madam,

my name is joel jose ,from texas .i came from india just one year ago . my aim is to be an oral surgeon. the only thing that i know is that there are about 14 years of medical school. while i was reading the above post i saw some studetns asking questions abt the airforce? i wish to know that what is this airforce to do with dentistry ?do they have any program of paying college tutuion to a dental student and when the student gets graduated then he should work for them?
and another question that i would like to get ma school years fast . can u tell me ur advice about that /about which dental college to look for and what to do next.

i know that u have more experience than me as i am a student and you are a doctor please help me.
can u sent me a message at [email protected]

 

[Juggernaut1912]

I don't know if your still checking this thread since its been awhile since the last post, but here it goes. I'm currently a junior in engineering, but am considering going into the dentistry field...I've heard there aren't too many of those in dental school. I know that I may be a little ahead of myself but I would appreciate if you could answer some of my questions (sorry if there seems to be a lot).

1) Since you went to UoP, were you only required to do 3 years of active duty then 5 years of IRR? And is it pretty reasonable that you won't be called into active duty during those 5 years?

2) What made you decide to do the AFHPSP compared to the Navy or Army?

3) Coming from a military family that moved around a lot, with a father that also did quite a few tours throughout his military career...I understand the possibility of deployment and am okay with it. My wife; however, is not supportive or okay with deployment (just as most spouses). What is a reasonable expectation of how long one would be deployed, as well as how many deployments throughout the three year time period (Not doing AEGD or OMFS)?

4) Had you chosen not specialize in OMFS and wanted to enter private practice, how prepared do you feel you would be to transition?

5) Based on a previous question someone else posted (trying to generalize I suppose), if I did choose to specialize would you recommend deferring and going to a civilian program after dental school, apply to military residency right after graduation (though I heard it is rare to be accepted directly out of d-school), or do your required active duty then apply for a residency? In other words, what would be the best path to specialize if you had to re-do it all over again?

6) As I understand it, if you do your a military residency right after school, then you serve your residency and required HPSP active duty concurrently... so even though 3-4 years HPSP + 4 year OMFS residency = 8 years total required years of active duty, you would essentially only be doing 4 after residency since they consider each year you complete as 2? Is this correct?

7) When you went to UoP, what did you do for the 45 days ADT since I think the breaks are shorter than that?

8) Anything else you think a pre-dental student should know and willing to share: advice, cool experience you wanted to share, life in the military (do it...don't do it), difficulty of having and maintaining a family, etc.

Thank you

 

[noirprncess]

I am a non-trad student heading back to school to undergrad to complete degree requirements. I want to put together the best game plan so that I can get into dental school.

My question is - should I look for a local mentor to help me prepare for the process? What should I look for?

I have more questions too.

 

[youngTWO]

hi,

i have a couple questions about dentistry in the USAF. First off, I'm nly 20 so i have a loooong way to go, haha. but my interest is with the air force because of helping to pay with school and such. can you help me better understand how the prgram works. i'm not even through with processing papers yet or not even been through BMT's. So i figured, its best if i get all my info before anything happens like signing papers and such.

i also wanted to know what a usual day would look like, what types of patients you'd be dealing with..meaning procedures and whatnot.

 

[sohaib941]

i have done B.D.S from india,recently got a call from University of Glasgow for admission in MSC oral and maxillofacial surgery of 2years and 360 credits(200 credits clinical ,60 basic sciences, 100 thesis)..Should i go for it?what are the future job prospects for this degree?Is it any good?

 

[sohaib941]

i have done B.D.S,recently got a call from University of Glasgow for admission in MSC oral and maxillofacial surgery 2years and 360 credits(200 credits clinical ,60 basic sciences, 100 thesis)..Should i go for it?what are the future prospects for this degree?Is it any good?

 

[Kahr]

Assuming this thread is in fact accepting new questions, I'd be very interested in hearing some updates.

How was the process of applying to the OMFS program in the AF?

If you got in (I don't believe you've said if you got accepted or not), where is it? What has the residency been like, structure, hours, procedures, who you work with, etc?

To add to the other question about bases, after you finish your residency, how will that affect the question regarding control over where you get stationed? I imagine you'd be more limited as a specialist.

Are you looking at deployment now that you're going to be, or already are OMFS? If you do get deployed or are, could you relate your experience here?

If you were an HPSP student while at UoP, did you have to do anything with the AF while in dental school? Did you do your officer training before or after(what was it like)? Did you do an AEGD(what was that like)?

Thank you!

P.S. Neuronix, that is a super cute dog, you should give it to me.

 

[noles]

quick question about applying for military OMFS residency:

to apply, do you have to currently be in the military?

or

can you apply, get accepted to the residency spot and then "enlist" (by enlist i mean commit/whatever you call it for officers)