OM and OMFS combined

[ANUG]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi. I'm seriously thinking about what I want to do as a dentist in the future. I really like oral medicine- not just looking at things like TMPDS but more oncology and neoplastic pathology. But people say that OM is not worth doing and I dont see that many people specialising in OM. Do you guys know any cases where one specialised in both OM and OMFS? Do you think it would be a good career choice (provided that it is possible)?
I considered other options as well.. Doing Mcomdent or a PhD. These would be great too but i think OM/ OMFs could also be an exciting option.
Any thoughts??

 

[UNLV OMS GUNNABE]

Hi. I'm seriously thinking about what I want to do as a dentist in the future. I really like oral medicine- not just looking at things like TMPDS but more oncology and neoplastic pathology. But people say that OM is not worth doing and I dont see that many people specialising in OM. Do you guys know any cases where one specialised in both OM and OMFS? Do you think it would be a good career choice (provided that it is possible)?
I considered other options as well.. Doing Mcomdent or a PhD. These would be great too but i think OM/ OMFs could also be an exciting option.
Any thoughts??

I'm trying to remember why there even is an oral medicine specialty. If anyone knows why please enlighten me.

 

[Bifid Uvula]

I think an Oral Medicine Specialty is totally a waste of time and effort. Most people I have met who claim to be Oral Medicine Specialists practice part-time in the school's (emergency clinic), and then practice primarily (90%) of their private life as GENERAL DENTISTS.

If you like that stuff you should consider doing Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology (and having a strong clinical component to your practice which would include treatment of patients with oral lesions, oncology, post oncologic surgery/radiation lesions and doing many of your own biopsies etc)... Its an OFFICIAL specialty. I don't mean to knock people doing Oral Medicine, because I don't doubt that they do learn a lot, but its kinda the half-@$$ed Oral Path version if you ask me...

As far as Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, most oral surgeons are VERY STRONG in their knowledge of Pathology and can also read the histopathologic slides much better than the average Oral Medicine person. They also treat most of the things you mentioned above... from giving little cremes/lotions/pixie-dust to actually CUTTING the "disease" out.

Do what makes you happy though...

 

[ANUG]

Thanks for your input bifid. Where I live, Oral medicine encompasses oral path, oral pharm and of course... oral medicine. We don't have a separate specialty as OMF pathology. I've always been puzzled about the border between OM and OMFS. My understanding was that OM was based upon non-surgical Tx of oral pathology just like internist in medicine as opposed to surgeons.
Listening to you it seems that doing OM and OMFS combined is a vain idea, both being 5 year programmes resulting in the same degrees (Clinical doctorate in dentistry+ MD)
what I'm fearing is that if I choose to do OMFS I might end up pulling whizzies all the time and not much else!!!😳

 

[Bifid Uvula]

Thanks for your input bifid. Where I live, Oral medicine encompasses oral path, oral pharm and of course... oral medicine. We don't have a separate specialty as OMF pathology. I've always been puzzled about the border between OM and OMFS. My understanding was that OM was based upon non-surgical Tx of oral pathology just like internist in medicine as opposed to surgeons.
Listening to you it seems that doing OM and OMFS combined is a vain idea, both being 5 year programmes resulting in the same degrees (Clinical doctorate in dentistry+ MD)
what I'm fearing is that if I choose to do OMFS I might end up pulling whizzies all the time and not much else!!!😳

Where on earth do you live that OMFS only pulls whizzies? (By the way, pulling whizzies is extremely lucrative, more so than you can imagine).

In the US, the only ADA recognized Dental specialties are:
Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Maxillofacial Pathology, Pediatric Dentistry, Orthodontics, Endodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (that one just kills me as to how they recognized that one as a specialty), Prosthodontics, Periodontics and Public Health. Rumor has it that Dental Anesthesiology will become a recognized specialty soon too...

OMFS is a 4-6 year residency (depening which program you go to) in the USA after dental school. OMFS practice a wide scope of head and neck surgery (with many similar procedures that are done by Otolaryngology and Plastic Surgery), Head/Neck Trauma Surgery, Facial Reconstructive Surgery, Facial Cosmetic Surgery, Dental Implants, Complex Bone & Soft Tissue Grafting, Orthognathic Surgery and Cleft Lip/Palate Surgery. They also get the greatest amount of Anesthesia training outside of the specialty of Anesthesiology... So they get General Anesthesia permits as well. Anyway, that's all i've gotta say. The other guys can weigh in when they have the chance.

 

[shabu2]

Thanks for your input bifid. Where I live, Oral medicine encompasses oral path, oral pharm and of course... oral medicine. We don't have a separate specialty as OMF pathology. I've always been puzzled about the border between OM and OMFS. My understanding was that OM was based upon non-surgical Tx of oral pathology just like internist in medicine as opposed to surgeons.
Listening to you it seems that doing OM and OMFS combined is a vain idea, both being 5 year programmes resulting in the same degrees (Clinical doctorate in dentistry+ MD)
what I'm fearing is that if I choose to do OMFS I might end up pulling whizzies all the time and not much else!!!😳

If you are so interested in OM, stick with it. There are only a few OMFS programs that have a rep for being path/om heavy.

 

[UNLV OMS GUNNABE]

If you are so interested in OM, stick with it. There are only a few OMFS programs that have a rep for being path/om heavy.

There is no such thing as a OMFS program being OM heavy.

 

[OMFS2B]

Oral medicine is usually done by foreign dentists to obtain a US license.

 

[S Files]

Thanks for your input bifid. Where I live, Oral medicine encompasses oral path, oral pharm and of course... oral medicine. We don't have a separate specialty as OMF pathology. I've always been puzzled about the border between OM and OMFS. My understanding was that OM was based upon non-surgical Tx of oral pathology just like internist in medicine as opposed to surgeons.
Listening to you it seems that doing OM and OMFS combined is a vain idea, both being 5 year programmes resulting in the same degrees (Clinical doctorate in dentistry+ MD)
what I'm fearing is that if I choose to do OMFS I might end up pulling whizzies all the time and not much else!!!😳

please clarify both being 5 yr programs?? OM is usually 2 or 3. OMFS is 4 or 6 (and a couple 5's out there). i say if you enjoy it, go for it. both programs combined will take 6 to 9 years. as mentioned above , you may could do oral path/OM or oral path/OMFS.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Oral Medicine is NOT a specialty but a fellowship/post graduate training after dental school. People who have this training usually are employed at dental schools where they teach oral diagnosis, how systemic diseases affect the oral cavity and how to manage the patients with multiple medical conditions. They are general dentists and not specialists. DP

 

[ANUG]

please clarify both being 5 yr programs??

Hey S File.
I live in NZ and here both OMFS and OM are official specialties.
After getting a BDS degree and a couple of years of work experience (preferably hospital) you can apply to specialise. The degree awarded is a clinical doctorate in dentistry (equivalent to the US specialty certificate). This takes three years for other specialties (perio, pedo, ortho etc) but for OM and OMFS you have to do a conjoint course with the medical school for 2 more years resulting in getting MBChB as well as DClinDent.