Future Job outlook for Oral Surgeons

[13tEEth]

Hey guys.

I’m a Dental student at UAB, and I am wondering what yalls thoughts are on the future job outlook and salary potential for oral surgeons

With the rise of the “Super GP” dentist, and general dentists desiring to push into more surgical work like grafting, implants, and removing thirds, how do y’all expect this to affect referrals to and demand for oral surgeons.

The path to surgery is very long and difficult, and I’m considering taking it, but do not want to put all the work in on the front side to end up in a place where I earn similar to a general dentist who is doing the same procedures or practice in a market where there is less demand for oral surgeons?

It seems like CBCTs are making 3rds more predictable, and as the cost of these machines drop, dentists will outfit their offices with them. Furthermore, it seems like there are a lot of dentists that want to do IV light sedation and do more surgical work. I’m even getting instagram adds for CE courses on sinus lifts and zygomatic implants, and I know these adds are targeted at general dentists.

Do you think there is a world 10-20-30 years down the line where the demand for oral surgeons is less, and hence they have less capacity to earn like they have been for the past 50 years?

Thanks guys,

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[ilikeur3rds]

It’s very easy, early in dental school, for people becoming GPs to say that they will be tackling impacted 3rds, complex implants, molar endo, etc. when they graduate. In reality over 50% of dental students graduate without comfortably being able to extract teeth or handle other difficult cases without faculty or residents there to bail them out if necessary. I’m sure a handful will become more competent during GPRs or some CEs, but in reality most GPs will never touch the cases that are sent to specialists now. Just because a CBCT can show you where an impacted 3rd molar is, it doesn’t make the technique an easier. As far as salaries, OMFS still can do very well relative to the rest of our medical colleagues purely on a high volume of hospital based procedures that no other dentist can do. Finally, if salaries were to go down, no OMFS will ever be destitute.

 

[veryhappylabrador]

Hi there, good luck with the remainder of school. See my responses in red!

With the rise of the “Super GP” dentist, and general dentists desiring to push into more surgical work like grafting, implants, and removing thirds, how do y’all expect this to affect referrals to and demand for oral surgeons.
No dentist (general or other specialist) can tackle the procedure volume and depth that OMFS can do. OMFS are sedating, cutting faces and jaws open, removing impacted teeth and tumors and cysts, retrieving teeth pushed into the sinus or infratemporal fossa, and placing implants on very sick patients with narrow ridges and harvesting bone from a leg or hip.

The path to surgery is very long and difficult, and I’m considering taking it, but do not want to put all the work in on the front side to end up in a place where I earn similar to a general dentist who is doing the same procedures or practice in a market where there is less demand for oral surgeons?
Unless you choose to work 1 day a week, you will not earn near a GP's salary.

It seems like CBCTs are making 3rds more predictable, and as the cost of these machines drop, dentists will outfit their offices with them. If I have a map of a minefield, the mines may be predictable, but I still won't be navigating that minefield. Furthermore, it seems like there are a lot of dentists that want to do IV light sedation and do more surgical work. I’m even getting instagram adds for CE courses on sinus lifts and zygomatic implants, and I know these adds are targeted at general dentists. Those CE courses you see advertising zygomatic implants for general dentists exist to sell CE course spots. Oral surgeons are used to working on anatomy beyond the mandible and maxilla. They are used to cutting faces and necks open because of cancer, gunshots, car accidents, orthognathic surgery, and orbital fractures from bar fights. Likewise, IV sedation without proper training (e.g. a residency in a hospital-based institution like an OMFS or dental anesthesiologist) is also a recipe for disaster.

Do you think there is a world 10-20-30 years down the line where the demand for oral surgeons is less, and hence they have less capacity to earn like they have been for the past 50 years? No, I doubt the demand will ever go down in our lifetime. People are living longer? More complicated medical histories for OMFS to handle with extractions and implants. Population growing? More wisdom teeth to extract on young people. More implants being placed? More implants that fail and have to be grafted and redone.