GP strongly considers going back to orthodontic residency

[futureorthodontist36]

Hello there,

I have missed my chance of going to ortho residency. I never though I wanted to become an orthodontist when I was in dental school. But after a few years of practice, I learned that GP is not for me. To be fair, my salary is good working as an associate, 270000 a year. I know that ortho future is not as good as 20 years ago and that I will lost years of income if I going back to school BUT I do not care about money. The more I learn about ortho, I felt that this is what I should do for the rest of my life.

Dear orthodontist and ortho residents, what can I do to improve my chance? I am thinking of applying to ortho fellowship program. Whom should I contact to give me advices of applying as years of practicing GP? Please advice!!

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[CanaDMD]

Hello there,

I have missed my chance of going to ortho residency. I never though I wanted to become an orthodontist when I was in dental school. But after a few years of practice, I learned that GP is not for me. To be fair, my salary is good working as an associate, 270000 a year. I know that ortho future is not as good as 20 years ago and that I will lost years of income if I going back to school BUT I do not care about money. The more I learn about ortho, I felt that this is what I should do for the rest of my life.

Dear orthodontist and ortho residents, what can I do to improve my chance? I am thinking of applying to ortho fellowship program. Whom should I contact to give me advices of applying as years of practicing GP? Please advice!!

Check out your local orthodontists or your local schools, see if any of the orthos/residents did a few years before jumping ship. They are the people who will be able to help you most!

 

[Marmalade]

Not really answering your question, but I've got to ask; how on Earth do you earn that much money? None of my closest dds (associate) friends come within 100k of that.

PD

 

[futureorthodontist36]

Not really answering your question, but I've got to ask; how on Earth do you earn that much money? None of my closest dds (associate) friends come within 100k of that.

PD

I am in the middle of nowhere USA 🙂

 

[Tooth]

If you're going to do a fellowship, do it at JU. As far as I am aware, it is the only clinical fellowship and it is the only school that has a history of accepting it's own fellows into their residency program the following year. The others just let you do research. You don't even work on patients. Then, they slap you in the face when they don't accept you the following year. Imagine doing a year long interview and all they have to say when you apply for the residency is, "Eh, not good enough. I'd rather take someone right out of school." That being said, why not apply for the residency at JU too? It's as easy as checking two boxes on the application. It is routinely done here. If they ask why you are applying for both programs, say you would prefer the residency but understand it is very competitive and you don't want to close any doors.

FYI, I'm not saying that fellowships elsewhere are worthless. Surely you learn a ton and it should open some doors, but we all know that all we really want at the end of the fellowship is a spot in a residency. For all those who have completed fellowships elsewhere and didn't get in to your programs, apply to JU too where you will be appreciated. We have accepted fellows from Case, Connecticut, Loma Linda, Pacific, and UF along with our own fellows. I am unaware of any of these programs accepting their own fellows. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[CaliDDS1986]

Hello there,

I have missed my chance of going to ortho residency. I never though I wanted to become an orthodontist when I was in dental school. But after a few years of practice, I learned that GP is not for me. To be fair, my salary is good working as an associate, 270000 a year. I know that ortho future is not as good as 20 years ago and that I will lost years of income if I going back to school BUT I do not care about money. The more I learn about ortho, I felt that this is what I should do for the rest of my life.

Dear orthodontist and ortho residents, what can I do to improve my chance? I am thinking of applying to ortho fellowship program. Whom should I contact to give me advices of applying as years of practicing GP? Please advice!!

Maybe I am in the minority here, but there's no way you should go to ortho residency if what you say is true. $270,000k a year is more than most dentists make by a lot, and even orthodontists make nowadays. Your lost income including if you go to a residency that charges tuition is like $750,000! That's insane, you'll never make that back. Obviously the practice your in is keeping you busy, why not just take a comprehensive ortho class as a GP then you can treat all the comprehensive cases within your skill range and refer the more difficult cases to the orthodontist? I understand you said it is what you want to do with the rest of my life, but it's the dumbest financial decision you can make. It's literally like saying your going to college for an art degree when you already are making bank.

 

[futureorthodontist36]

Maybe I am in the minority here, but there's no way you should go to ortho residency if what you say is true. $270,000k a year is more than most dentists make by a lot, and even orthodontists make nowadays. Your lost income including if you go to a residency that charges tuition is like $750,000! That's insane, you'll never make that back. Obviously the practice your in is keeping you busy, why not just take a comprehensive ortho class as a GP then you can treat all the comprehensive cases within your skill range and refer the more difficult cases to the orthodontist? I understand you said it is what you want to do with the rest of my life, but it's the dumbest financial decision you can make. It's literally like saying your going to college for an art degree when you already are making bank.

We have 3 dentists in our offices. We are very fortunate to produce the money in our current economy situation. Trust me, I have already thought about my lost income and stability job. But at the end of the day, I came home and I am not happy. I am happy with the practice that I am in but not with general dentistry. I do not want to take some ortho weekend classes. I do want to learn about ORTHO field.

 

[futureorthodontist36]

If you're going to do a fellowship, do it at JU. As far as I am aware, it is the only clinical fellowship and it is the only school that has a history of accepting it's own fellows into their residency program the following year. The others just let you do research. You don't even work on patients. Then, they slap you in the face when they don't accept you the following year. Imagine doing a year long interview and all they have to say when you apply for the residency is, "Eh, not good enough. I'd rather take someone right out of school." That being said, why not apply for the residency at JU too? It's as easy as checking two boxes on the application. It is routinely done here. If they ask why you are applying for both programs, say you would prefer the residency but understand it is very competitive and you don't want to close any doors.

FYI, I'm not saying that fellowships elsewhere are worthless. Surely you learn a ton and it should open some doors, but we all know that all we really want at the end of the fellowship is a spot in a residency. For all those who have completed fellowships elsewhere and didn't get in to your programs, apply to JU too where you will be appreciated. We have accepted fellows from Case, Connecticut, Loma Linda, Pacific, and UF along with our own fellows. I am unaware of any of these programs accepting their own fellows. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks so much for the advice!! Looks at your previous posts, you are very knowledge about the field. I will pm you for more questions.