Important question for dentists/students in the military

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PracTxDentist

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I am beginning dental school in the fall and am interested in possibly specializing after d-school.

If I go the military route:

1) Can I enter a post-doc program directly after d-school or would I have to practice general dentistry for 3-4 yrs before receiving further training?

2) If I can enter a post-doc program directly after d-school, is it true that a few years of this training can count towards your pay-back?

3) If someone is sincerely interested in specializing, is it generally better to just go the civilian route and finance your education?

Thanks for your help!

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1. You can specialize..you can do it via the military...most have their own speciality programs which are just as good as any civilian program. Or you can do a civilian program...and they will pay for it. but this adds more time to your pay-back service.

2. I do not believe that any postdoc work counts towards pay back. I asked my recruiter about the AEGD, or GPR and he said it's a neutral year. So i'm assuming any specialty work would also be considered neutral. But I may be wrong (if you hear differently please let it be known!!) But I'm pretty sure that additional training does not count towards payback.

3. Depends. Going the military route + specializing will take a lot of time..but will also take away any debt you'll ever have. You wont make as much in the military..although you can get specialty pay if you do specialize, which is nice. It basically all depends on you. If you go on any military HPSP...you will owe your 3 or 4 yrs...if you specialize and they pay...you finish that program..then start your payback.
 
I am beginning dental school in the fall and am interested in possibly specializing after d-school.

If I go the military route:

1) Can I enter a post-doc program directly after d-school or would I have to practice general dentistry for 3-4 yrs before receiving further training?

2) If I can enter a post-doc program directly after d-school, is it true that a few years of this training can count towards your pay-back?

3) If someone is sincerely interested in specializing, is it generally better to just go the civilian route and finance your education?

Thanks for your help!

1) As far as the Navy goes, you can specialize directly after dental school if you meet certain criteria. You have to apply to postpone your active duty obligation in your junior year of dental school. Your application will only be approved if the Navy needs people in that specialty. Right now, its pretty much just OMFS or Perio, maybe endo. Last year I think you could do prostho but not this year. If you want to do ortho or pedo, forget it. They've got enough already. Of course, you also have to be accepted at a civilian residency. If both of those conditions are satisfied, you can pay for the school yourself. Then, when school is over, you can pay back your HPSP years as a specialist.

2) No. None of the years will count as payback, yet you also will not acrue any additional payback if you pay for school yourself.

3) It depends on whether you want to stay in the military the rest of your life. If you specialize at the Navy dental school (Bethesda) you might as well retire in the Navy.

This is my two cents. There's much more to add to this. I just think this post is long enough for now.
 
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