Dentist to Physician

[TD6789]

Hello Everyone!
To those of you with more life experience.

I’m a dentist who’s been out a few years.
Dentistry has been fine overall but I knew early in dental school I should’ve gone the med school.
I stuck with it because getting into med school is no guarantee and I was already in D-school debt.

I finished out the degree now making a ~$250k but I still feel in my heart this wasn’t the goal.
I want to practice medicine.
During my D1 I enjoyed the basic science classes a whole lot more than my dental courses. I shadowed in a couple of medical specialties during college and had my mind set on surgery.
It was during this time I spoke with a few practicing physicians who pulled me aside and warned me about going into the field.

Eventually, I took their advice but still regret the decision to switch. I’m not looking to chase a dental specialty like OMFS.

At 30 yrs old, I feel like I’m at an optimal point to switch. Married. No kids.

I couldn’t find a similar post online from a DDS to MD/DO so I look forward to your responses.
Thank you.

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[Dral]

Surely possible. You'll have to still check off most of the boxes so to speak and have a compelling reason why you're running toward medicine instead of away from dentistry.

 

[HopefulApplicant667]

How about the 6 year MD-granting OMFS programs?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Def go for OMFS if that's something you want. Such a cool path.

 

[Crayola227]

Lol I think OP said they didn't want to do OMFS. Not sure it's a good pivot plan into a different residency and specialty either?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Lol I think OP said they didn't want to do OMFS. Not sure it's a good pivot plan into a different residency and specialty either?

Ah I missed that section. Disregard then!

 

[HopefulApplicant667]

Sorry, I also missed the aversion to OMFS in the post. The only reason I suggested it is that the path to medical school is incredibly duplicative for you. I'm an attorney, so we share a similar age/educational background. I have to go back to school to do my prereqs/MCAT. The time until I begin medical school is between 1 year (a one year postbacc w/ linkage) to 3 years (a two year postbacc without linkage). Unlike me, however, you have already taken the prereqs and the DAT, but they have likely expired for admissions purposes. Are you okay to spend the next 1-3 years waiting to go to medical school? The application cycle for 1 year programs 2025-6 is already done, so its a minimum of 2 years for you.

You could do a 6y MD-granting OMFS program earlier (apply next round) and, after the 4 years of 2 years of training+2 years of medical school, apply to a different residency program if OMFS is still unappealing? I vaguely recall reading something online about someone doing that. I'm not sure if it's frowned upon or always permissible. The reason being: it would be far cheaper, and you would be exempt from the MCAT/prereqs. Hell, it would probably be even faster to finish a 6 year OMFS program and then try to do a second residency afterwards lol. You'd be able to start your intern year so much more quickly. Just a thought. I've resigned myself to waiting 3 years until I can start 4 years of school + 3-6 years of training but that may not be as palatable to someone who could be a residency trained physician 7 years from now.

Eduardo Rodriguez, plastic surgery chief at NYU Langone, went from DDS --> OMFS --> standalone MD --> plastic surgery. If you did a 6y MD granting OMFS program, you could try something similar.

 

[astrophysicsblackguy]

Totally doable, I am a DMD with 3 years experience, starting at a DO school in July. Plenty of schools were interested in my experience as a dentist and I think it helped my application.