How many years to specialize?

[seanjohn]

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How many years does it take to specialize?
Is there a different amount of time for each specialty?
If anyone knows, please tell me how long it takes to specialize for specific specialties such as orthodontics, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery etc.
Thank you, maybe someone in the pre-dental forum can answer, unlike in the dental forum😳

 

[KDBuff]

If you do a search I'm sure you can find out at length what each specialty entails. They're all different, endo is 2 years, oral surgery is 4 or 6 depending on whether you go the MD route, pedo is 2, ortho is 2-3, prostho is 3, and perio is 3.

 

[seanjohn]

Oral surgery is 4 or 6 years? Why would anyone who thinks straight go the MD route and take 6 years? It makes no sense to me. Since it takes the longest for oral surgery I guess it is the most lucrative? Who would of thought that extracting wisdom teeth would require such extensive training? Orthodontics only requires two years? If that's the case then I know which route I plan on taking!
Thanks for your help, I appreciate it!

 

[mikhiel]

all the hygenists and the dentist in the office I observed at this summer warned me never to become an orthodontist. They said little kids come in all the time with things like sandwiches stuck in their braces and it's gross because they never brush. It was funny, they just said "you can be so many things, just DON'T go into ortho!!!"

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by seanjohn
Oral surgery is 4 or 6 years? Why would anyone who thinks straight go the MD route and take 6 years? It makes no sense to me. Since it takes the longest for oral surgery I guess it is the most lucrative? Who would of thought that extracting wisdom teeth would require such extensive training? Orthodontics only requires two years? If that's the case then I know which route I plan on taking!
Thanks for your help, I appreciate it!

1) Because it's the only circumstance in the world where you can get a doctoral degree for only two years of work. Particularly for people considering academic careers, the more initials behind the name, the better.

2) OMS earn high salaries, but the comparatively high overhead eats into net pay. Endodontists, for example, earn excellent salaries thanks to the brief nature of their procedures and their typically low overhead.

3) If you seriously think the only procedure OMS are trained in is 3rd molar removal, and that ortho is an easy residency to gain admission to, you need to spend some serious research time before you start laying out career plans. If you decide to stick with it, though, good luck.

 

[seanjohn]

Thanks for your informative post Bill, as always. I know it's difficult to gain admission to specialty programs, but is ortho the most difficult to enter? Can you rank the difficulty of getting into specialty programs by each specialty? What exactly do orthodontists do besides putting braces in? What do endodontists do? What else do oral and maxillofacial surgeons do besides extracting wisdom teeth? I know there's lots more that they do but what exactly?

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by seanjohn
Thanks for your informative post Bill, as always. I know it's difficult to gain admission to specialty programs, but is ortho the most difficult to enter? Can you rank the difficulty of getting into specialty programs by each specialty? What exactly do orthodontists do besides putting braces in? What do endodontists do? What else do oral and maxillofacial surgeons do besides extracting wisdom teeth? I know there's lots more that they do but what exactly?

Well, my usual disclaimer applies (I'm a first-year student, so don't take what I say as the final word on anything), but here's a quick fly-by:

1) Ranking admissions difficulty is impossible, because the trends change with time and each new class. A few trends do exist, though. You can count on having stiff competition if you apply to OMS, ortho, or endo out of school. Pros and pedo tend to be more forgiving, but believe me when I say there's no such critter as a sure-thing specialty program.

2) OMS are trained in extractions, but they also do orthognathic surgery (operations to correct skeletal malformations in a patient's bite), tumor excisions, and a few even make their living doing mostly cosmetic facial surgery. In addition, while they don't continue this in practice, OMS are typically residency-trained to do general surgery in addition to the orofacial stuff. It's just like any other profession: there are any number of paths your career can take, but most people will gravitate to the easy money (3rd extractions).

3) Orthodontists are extensively trained in craniofacial growth patterns, both normal and abnormal; it doesn't do much good to slap a kid with braces unless you know what's wrong with his cranial development and where you're trying to go with treatment. Also, they do more than just braces; any sort of non-prosthodontic mouth appliance generally falls under their bailiwick, and sometimes they work in conjunction with craniofacial surgical teams to treat childhood development disorders.

4) Yeah, endodontists just do root canals all day, but they get damned good at them, and when you're doing 3 RCT's an hour at $800 a pop, you can afford to get your therapy on the golf course 3 days a week 😀

 

[drPheta]

Bill beat me to it. Personally, I'm interested in specialties, but I still have no idea if I want to pursue one or which one is the most interesting.

You have a long way to go...don't worry so much about the specialties. You'll be exposed enough to know by the time your 3rd year of d-school rolls around.

 

[gryffindor]

Check out the first post in this thread.

2004 Match Results

It should help you figure out how competitive some of the residencies currently are. FYI, not listed are Endo, Perio & Prostho . Perio & Prostho aren't incredibly competitive right now. Endo is a hot specialty at the moment (lots of competition), but was not nearly as competitive a few years back. Same with Pedo - it's popularity is on the rise. Perio used to be real competitive but has now fallen in popularity. Just goes to show that the competition cycles, but Ortho & Oral Surgery have remained competitive all along, with Ortho being the most competitive to get into.

Bill gave a good summary of the specialties - even if he is only a first year!

And the majority of ortho program are currently 3 years. There are some 2 & 2.5 year programs, but the trend is moving toward 3 years programs.

 

[grettlin2]

I really wonder why foreign trained dentists can get into speciality programs (all programs) much easier than the dentists trained in US? I can only think about one reason that they would not be allowed to practice here after graduatation. Anyone knows why?

 

[gryffindor]

grettlin, a specialty program might be inclined to take foreign students if there aren't enough US grads to fill those spots. Another reason I've heard around our school is that the school gets a lot more money from the foreign students paying international student tuition rates rather than the state student paying state rates (we're talking about state schools here). Many times the student's home country even coughs up large amounts of money to send the student for the training. Of course, with reason #2, it is expected that the student will return to their home country since they can't practice in the US anyways without enrolling in an International Dentist Program (2 - 3 more years) after completing the specialty.