OMFS and GP joint practice

[ChuckDAT]

Hey all,

I'm a constant lurker, but I'm at a crossroads in my dental career and need some advice. I'm a 3rd year, and I'm lucky to have a family member with an extremely successful GP practice. She wants (not forcing) me to come back to the practice. Her plan is that within 5 years of practicing together that she would begin to phase out. Dropping down to one chair twice a week, and take more of an oversight role. This sounds fantastic.....I know. However, there is something that can drastically change this setup/path...

I love oral surgery. I read OMFS literature, watch surgical videos, and will be diving head first into my schools OS clinic very soon. I simply cannot stop thinking about this specialty. I know that I can do a GPR and do some surgery as a GP. Frankly, my school has an incredible GPR that is surgically based with great implant and Extraction numbers. However, I want to be able to solely focus on surgery. I want to do a lot of private practice (bread and butter) OMFS. So here is my question?

Is it possible for a GP and OMFS to work in the same practice?

Would this be a problem for referring dentist (sending referral to OS, but who practices with GP)

This is a big decision for me and my family. It's hard to explain to people that I love OS enough to walk away from a MIN. Of 260K right out of school (with the possibility of more within 5 years). I have strong ties to the practice.....but when you know.....you know. I will be asking other mentors for guidance, but I'd value some input from this forum.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[psiyung]

if youre gonna work with this family member in the same practice i think it will be very difficult to get referrals

 

[navydentist]

I don't get it, why would you care about sharing this office if you want to be an OMS? Sounds silly to be honest.

You could always practice there a couple days a month as a 'traveling oms' seeing internal referrals. But bringing referrals to a family members GP office? Forget it.

 

[l4dygaga]

Unless your family practice can feed you enough surgeries for you to work full time, this would probably be one of those traveling OS gigs.

 

[setdoc7]

That's a lot of training to just do exos and implants. OMFS is a much broader scope than that. You can train to do much of the dentoalveolar surgery without having to go through the Path, TMJ, Orthognathic, etc that is required of OMFS residents. Just my opinion.

 

[DREDAY]

That's a lot of training to just do exos and implants. OMFS is a much broader scope than that. You can train to do much of the dentoalveolar surgery without having to go through the Path, TMJ, Orthognathic, etc that is required of OMFS residents. Just my opinion.

I agree. Just do gpr and become proficient at extractions and implants. No need to do OMFS. Waste of your time and the residency's time. We need more full scope guys and less teeth and titanium guys. Plus the there is a push to make "surgical placement" of implants a dental school competency requirement. I know a couple dental schools aready moving in that dirrection. Only a matter of time before every dental school teaches their students to place implants.

 

[Kundalini]

Agree with Dreday. Your assumption that OMS = extractions and implants is only less than half way true.