Curious question. Those of you in OMFS residency, did you extract a lot of teeth and become pretty well versed in extractions before beginning OMFS residency? If so, did it help a lot in making the transition into residency? If not, did it matter much, did you learn quickly and without much issue in residency? Thanks in advance.
Did you perform a lot of extractions in dental school prior to OMFS residency?
- Thread starter East-West
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I did around 80 teeth. I think my coresidents did like 15-30. Doesn’t matter at all.
Haha that would be quite unfortunate.
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Would suck. Shadowing pre-dental and externships really helped solidify my decision. Also nothing beat that adrenaline of pulling one of those teeth in clinic
Agreed, nothing quite like the satisfaction and high you feel from extracting a tooth independentlyWould suck. Shadowing pre-dental and externships really helped solidify my decision. Also nothing beat that adrenaline of pulling one of those teeth in clinic
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This totally would have been me. I hate surgical extractions, but I learned that lesson while still in dental school.
Big Hoss
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Thankfully I love it lol.
The mantra: either you make the tooth smaller or the bone around it less.
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I didn't enter residency. But in dental school, I didn't touch a surgical handpiece nor lay a flap. Only simple exos. My school's motto was always "If in doubt, refer" which made for a lackluster education.
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Guess im on the other side of things, I was fortunate and did quite a bit honestly. They still teach you OMFS ways to get teeth out vs dental school. I also think I had a small leg up being a surgical assistant for 5+ years prior to DS so I could at least see how it was done by a PP surgeon day in and day out. In the end...great experience and I think I was more comfortable trying new techniques I was taught and am being taught in residency. End of the day all us OMFS'ers are getting great experience and more or less doing the same surgeries!
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OMFS is so much more than tooth extractions. And there is plenty of time to get really good at it in residency. No dental student ever pushed propofol. Enough said.
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I prefer: If you remove enough bone, the tooth will fall out.
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Did 500+ extractions, with many surgical. That being said, the minimum requirement for my D-school was 125 extractions for just passing. At my residency program, the dental students do less than 10 - they run off this "competency based" system which is another way of saying they don't have enough volume for the dental students. IDK why, but we do practically do all the exodontia for the entire school in the OMS department; I suspect it has to do with $$$.
Holy cow, 500+ as a dental student? That is absurd. Surely thought this was pure sarcasm at first read. That's great experience, solid work.
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This is not the norm. But I met a few people on the trail (2+ years ago) that had significant exodontia experience. This person is probably from Texas A&M (formerly Baylor). I can confirm that their requirement is 125 for graduation. I also heard of very high numbers from applicants coming out of UF Gainesville (OMFS honors route).
You might be a little behind the curve if you've done less than 10 starting residency, but throughout your time in residency, you'll definitely be doing more than enough exodontia to become proficient. I bet nearly all OMFS residents graduate with numbers in the thousands. I wouldn't worry about it.
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Does anyone have a problem with dental students taking out teeth? I have often wondered why this is allowed yet medical students cannot remove a mole from the skin due to "liability" issues. There is no requirement by CODA for a student to actually perform the procedure. Just to learn the theory of how to do it. As dentistry moves away from patient based exams due to "ethical" issues. I am wondering if this in not the next frontier. Just food for thought.
Why do any procedures in dental school?
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I am not in academia, so I don’t know the evolution of the ethicists who say it is unethical for dental students to perform procedures, but I am not impressed with them. These rules they come up with do not affect them personally. They have the best dentist they can find, I am sure.
I think it is important for dental students to see procedures, and then do them themselves. Odontectomies are a key part of general dental education. Never was a real patient anything like a typodont in my hands.
Moreover, dental school treatment is different because patients go there knowing that they are being treated by predoctoral students, who presumably are being supervised by qualified faculty. Medical student education is different.
I don’t remember how many teeth I removed in dental school, but I did more than anyone in my class because my classmates and I would “trade” patients after we completed our requirements…and they knew I enjoyed doing it.
I had the advantage of having a father who is an OMS and watched him remove teeth on several thousand patients before I even got to dental school.
In my internship, I was shown how to remove teeth by the resident who had been doing it only one year longer.
Then, at my residency at Mayo, there were four Consultants (attendings), and they had all been doing it for 30 years. We were learning good habits.
Mayo had a preceptorship program then, and we had to first-assist on many cases before we were allowed to be the operating surgeon. Their philosophy was that resident education was a by-product of good patient care, rather than patient care being a by-product of resident education.
So I felt better prepared when I entered practice than if I had just been turned loose in a resident-run program. But that is just me.
And now, just like I don’t remember what it was like being single, or not being a dad, I don’t remember not knowing how to remove teeth.
I think it is important for dental students to see procedures, and then do them themselves. Odontectomies are a key part of general dental education. Never was a real patient anything like a typodont in my hands.
Moreover, dental school treatment is different because patients go there knowing that they are being treated by predoctoral students, who presumably are being supervised by qualified faculty. Medical student education is different.
I don’t remember how many teeth I removed in dental school, but I did more than anyone in my class because my classmates and I would “trade” patients after we completed our requirements…and they knew I enjoyed doing it.
I had the advantage of having a father who is an OMS and watched him remove teeth on several thousand patients before I even got to dental school.
In my internship, I was shown how to remove teeth by the resident who had been doing it only one year longer.
Then, at my residency at Mayo, there were four Consultants (attendings), and they had all been doing it for 30 years. We were learning good habits.
Mayo had a preceptorship program then, and we had to first-assist on many cases before we were allowed to be the operating surgeon. Their philosophy was that resident education was a by-product of good patient care, rather than patient care being a by-product of resident education.
So I felt better prepared when I entered practice than if I had just been turned loose in a resident-run program. But that is just me.
And now, just like I don’t remember what it was like being single, or not being a dad, I don’t remember not knowing how to remove teeth.
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I removed 12 teeth in dental school. On days I’m in our resident clinic, I’ll typically remove somewhere in the range of 30-80 teeth a day, depending on whether my schedule has mostly wisdom teeth or FMEs.
The number of teeth you extract in dental school has no meaning if you enter an OMFS residency. Even the most impressive dental student numbers are dwarfed by the volume you do in residency.
The number of teeth you extract in dental school has no meaning if you enter an OMFS residency. Even the most impressive dental student numbers are dwarfed by the volume you do in residency.
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I spent a good amount of time extracting teeth in dental school.
officially I had approximately 350 logged. This doesn’t count the teeth that I extracted that was not logged under my record (helping other students get their graduation requirements, or me taking out root tips and finishing extractions for other students etc ).
As many have already said, it’s not necessary to perform a lot of extractions prior to residency and residency will focus on the full scope of omfs.
A joke in my program… we did more Orthognathic surgery than extractions and residents could downfracture a maxilla faster than taking out a set of thirds.
The way I see it - if you have time to get more experience and exposure to dental alveolar surgery during dental school, it can only benefit you.
officially I had approximately 350 logged. This doesn’t count the teeth that I extracted that was not logged under my record (helping other students get their graduation requirements, or me taking out root tips and finishing extractions for other students etc ).
As many have already said, it’s not necessary to perform a lot of extractions prior to residency and residency will focus on the full scope of omfs.
A joke in my program… we did more Orthognathic surgery than extractions and residents could downfracture a maxilla faster than taking out a set of thirds.
The way I see it - if you have time to get more experience and exposure to dental alveolar surgery during dental school, it can only benefit you.
