Greatest breadth of knowledge in dentistry - OMFS?

[Teeth and Titanite]

I'm a sucker for knowledge. I love the fact that there is so much to learn in dentistry that one can practically never reach the point where there is nothing left to learn. In your view, what would be the specialty in which there is the most potential things to learn? What has the broadest range of topics? Is it OMFS? Or is it something else? That is a small reason for me to gravitate towards it. Even the fact that OMFS requires the CBSE is kinda cool. Despite me currently contending with a gnarly plateau in the 60s EPC range, I have to say its been a gratifying experience to attain so much additional medical knowledge compared to my dental school biomed classes.

Kind of a inane question, I know, but I hope it leads to some good discussion.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[piratewow]

By far OMFS if you enter academics. Trauma, implants/dentoalveolar, TMJ, orthognathics, facial cosmetics, Head and neck with free flaps, craniofacial, it's impossible to truly master the scope that the specialty has to offer. If you really get out there doing expanded scope and dive into things like skull base, facial transplants, TORS, FFS, it's practically endless. Compared to endo where literally all you do is 1 procedure pretty much, just on different teeth. Now don't get me wrong 95% of OMFS will do TNT with some benign path and the occasional trauma, but that doesn't mean the specialty itself doesn't have an extremely wide scope.

 

[Ivy.ch]

Look into Oral Medicine. There aren’t enough good oral medicine doctors as there should be, and they have to know a lot of different aspects.

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

expanded scope and dive into things like skull base, facial transplants, TORS, FFS, it's practically endless.

Thank you for your response! For the longest time I wondered if oral surgeons get involved in facial transplants, and I am glad to see that they do. That is one of the most mind-blowing surgeries I can think of; I still can't believe that humans have pulled it off before.

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

Look into Oral Medicine. There aren’t enough good oral medicine doctors as there should be, and they have to know a lot of different aspects.

Interesting suggestion, to be honest I had written off the small new specialities in dentistry just because there is so little information out there on them. I do not feel comfortable with that level of ambiguity, but I am glad to learn that oral medicine specialists cover a wide range. In the future, hopefully collaboration with the new specialties leads to even better care.

 

[piratewow]

Thank you for your response! For the longest time I wondered if oral surgeons get involved in facial transplants, and I am glad to see that they do. That is one of the most mind-blowing surgeries I can think of; I still can't believe that humans have pulled it off before.

Extremely rare, like less than 5 surgeons in the country rare. Rodriguez in NYU ( who is plastics trained and doesn't really advertise his OMFS background) is the most prominent one that comes to mind. But the other expanded stuff there's probably dozens of OMFS out there doing them, academics of course.

 

[DocMon16]

OMFS IMO has the greatest depth and range of knowledge. The amount of didactic information you have to acquire, learn, and put into practice is extremely vast and that is why you can even sub-specialize too. There’s a reason it’s another 4-6 years of training to not only learn but practice and be competent.

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

OMFS IMO has the greatest depth and range of knowledge. The amount of didactic information you have to acquire, learn, and put into practice is extremely vast and that is why you can even sub-specialize too. There’s a reason it’s another 4-6 years of training to not only learn but practice and be competent.

On your point regarding didactic information, during one of my externships an OMFS resident told me that they do a minimal amount of reading. Maybe he was speaking in relative terms and I took it too literally. What has been your experience?

 

[DocMon16]

On your point regarding didactic information, during one of my externships an OMFS resident told me that they do a minimal amount of reading. Maybe he was speaking in relative terms and I took it too literally. What has been your experience?

Depends on the resident and the program. I can tell you that being a chief resident, during our lectures, presentations, and other didactic type of material, if you don’t read and learn information it’s very obvious, the attendings and senior residents will make it known that you’re lacking in that department.

You have to make the time to read articles , journals ,and books to stay on top of the latest information to treat patients. If you don’t make the effort you’re going to lack the knowledge base. The more you know the better you can manage your patients and treat them optimally. There’s been plenty of times through residency I didn’t want to sit and read but I made myself sit and find an article, journal, or chapter that interested me.

 

[nade0016]

Meh, each specialty has a different breadth of knowledge and I think that is also resident dependent.

 

[yappy]

I agree with @nade0016 that every specialty has a large breadth, especially in academics. For example someone said endo has the least; check out the leaders in the field like Hardgraves who is doing research in pain and tissue regeneration. The sky is the limit. Also, I doubt the same surgeons who are big time academic TMJ surgeons are the same as the cancer ones. People seem to find their interest or niche and stay there.

Prosthetics has the largest breadth for actually doing the job in private practice

 

[Molar Whisperer]

IMO, a great source for dental knowledge can be provided by the military. In addition to all the specialties, it has a 2 year AEGD program that train dentists to go to a remote areas and be a "Jack of All trades (specialties)" or super GPs. I was recently notified that the programs use CAD/CAM to get crowns completed for the troops to be able to deploy immed. I'm not sure about the present but the USAF had a dept call Dental Investigation Services which studies all aspects of Dental Procedures, techniques and materials.

 

[Saddleshoes]

I'm not sure Breath Of Knowledge as anything to do with specialty. (Or dentistry for that matter.)
I'm thinking it has more to do with the innate curiosity, life experience, mind set, and general personality.
I have known a lot of specialists that were great at their specialty but had zero knowledge of the general dental issues.
More to the point, a Specialist may know everything about a a very small corner of the dental field but be a total dolt on everything else in life.

(Which is why I tend to talk to the spouses at dental events NOT the dentists.)

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

Also, I doubt the same surgeons who are big time academic TMJ surgeons are the same as the cancer ones. People seem to find their interest or niche and stay there.

Thank you for your response! I am inclined to agree with your point about every specialty, including endo, covering a lot of ground. Endo residents from what I've seen and heard do a ton of literature review. I would imagine that is only the case because they have a ton to know about their procedures.

For sure it seems difficult to be an expert in multiple large areas of OMFS. That is certainly part of what makes it a cool specialty in my opinion, just so much out there you can potentially learn. Lot of niches, but past a certain point I imagine it becomes tough to switch between them.

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

I'm not sure Breath Of Knowledge as anything to do with specialty. (Or dentistry for that matter.)
I'm thinking it has more to do with the innate curiosity, life experience, mind set, and general personality.
I have known a lot of specialists that were great at their specialty but had zero knowledge of the general dental issues.
More to the point, a Specialist may know everything about a a very small corner of the dental field but be a total dolt on everything else in life.

(Which is why I tend to talk to the spouses at dental events NOT the dentists.)

Sometimes I feel well on my way to becoming a dolt, thank you for the reminder haha.