I appreciate the feedback so far, all these points are fair assessments. I have also heard that some top dental students are thinking toward the super GP and avoiding residency as they will be able to do large implant cases and sedation with a few CE's after school. Does anyone have a thought on this. What about the difficulty of the CBSE while in dental school? Is that turning students away?
So thoughts so far.
1. Same top applicants applying to all large number of programs.
2. Some programs giving negative experiences during interviews.
3. Work/Life balance matters to some/most applicants.
4. CBSE difficulty during dental school
5. Instead of residency just go out and be a super GP
Is this a good list so far?
Currently a PGY-4, my program matched the categorical spots but having trouble findings non-cats, likely due to the unfilled categorical spots that may still be open. My thoughts on your points:
1. Definitely agree
2. Possibly? I remember back when I was interviewing (thankfully in person), none of the experiences of the interviews themselves were poor, you could just tell if you didn't want to go to that program regardless
3. I think this is more of a driver of 4 vs 6 year competitiveness, w/4 year arguably being more competitive given applicants:spots ratio. Which is funny, the med school portions of residency offer the best work life balance! But 4 year earlier earning potential and shorter delayed gratification substantially winning out, I do see how work life balance can substantially affect this
4. This has always existed except for the COVID years of studying. Probably getting :"easier" given the abundance of resources and study plans out there, where all you have to do is put in the work to get a good score (obviously very time-consuming and demanding, but less "feeling lost", just sticking to the formula).
5. This one is interesting, but as others have said, I don't think this has a lot to do with OMFS not matching spots. I don't think there is a ton of overlap of people who enter dental school and become OMFS vs Super GPs. My n=1 experience:
I went to a public school that strongly encouraged everyone to consider an AEGD or GPR if they were pursuing general. Faculty emphasized that school is just to teach you the very basics and get you licencesd, and in order to provide value to a practice, get more proficient, and dip your toes into more advanced procedures, it was essentially necessary to do one. I used to think that this was all just a giant euphamism for my school not offering a robust clinical experienced. Of my graduating class (2020), there is not one single person currently working for DSO/corporate as a GP. In the class below me, to the best of my knowledge there are only two. Most people are bread and butter private practice associates/owners, who will dabble in endo, single tooth posterior implants etc, or they are OMFS residents/practicing specialists. Very few super GPs. All doing great financially/overall (except OMFS residents lol)
I then matched to an OMFS program at a different public school in a different region of the country. At this school, very few graduates who are going into general do an AEGD/GPR, as the need to do so is not emphasized by the school faculty/culture. At this school, there are more people who want to, or think they will become, super GPs, because it is assumed that dental school prepares you to hit the ground running, and CE will cover whatever gaps you have. When I got here, I noticed this perception/attitude, and assumed it was because the clinical experience exceeded that of my dental school. I could not possibly have been more wrong. It is all the attitude difference. Clinical experience was the same, if not worse. These people are seriously gonna do some poor work harming patients if they try to become super GPs without proper CE/training. In my limited experience, the GPs who seem to get the sufficient training from CE/direct mentorship are ones that are already wealthy and well-connected (i.e. family members in dentistry). They don't have the pressure to take the first job that comes their way/the only place that will hire them full time, and can afford the appropriate CE. Tale of haves and have nots. Meanwhile, the other students who graduate from schools like where my OMFS program is think that whatever corporate DSO hires them provides sufficient training in broader scope dentistry, when the reality is they get the chance to practice and **** up stuff without supervision on top of their brutal, hectic schedules of bread and butter dentistry + baby-sitting an impossible number of denture patients. I would guess at least 30-40% of the last two graduating classes from this dental school who didn't specialize/do and AEGD/GPR went corporate, and unforutnately will end up like this. Will they jump ship once they can afford to, and eventually become Super GPs with appropraite training and CE down the road? Who knows
Just my $0.02
