OMFS or ortho

[furcation]

Which is harder to get into ortho or OMFS? Yes, Ive seen posts about sub-90 board scores getting into ortho, but the boards have changed a lot over the past few years, and scores are harder to judge, second, ortho has a big legacy component and I have a feeeling some of those addmitted have dad to help out. OMFS, one hardcore specialty, no doubt, but, it doesnt seem as competitive as ortho and it also seems like the AAOMS has been doing a lot to try and promote applying to students. what you guys think?

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[servitup]

will the answer to your question help you choose your future career or are you just wondering?

 

[gary_ruska]

will the answer to your question help you choose your future career or are you just wondering?

Gary "just couldn't bend them wires" Ruska here,

An interesting and commonly asked question. In general, they are both extremely competitive and attract different types.

However, numbers sometimes help, so let's look at some data:

From the last five years of the Dental Match (http://www.natmatch.com/dentres/)

Note: The match rates below were calculated as the proportion of matched applicants over the total number of applicants submitting rank lists. This adjusts for the fact that some spots which go unmatched do so because the programs would rather not match an applicant than match an unqualified applicant. Also note that there are some ortho positions (e.g. UCLA) that are non-match. These are not included in this analysis.

OMFS
2006 59%
2007 54.2%
2008 52.9%
2009 54.5%
2010 53.2%

Ortho
2006 50.6%
2007 52.2%
2008 49.0%
2009 51.0%
2010 54.0%

As you can see, the match rates aren't largely divergent (in 2010, the match rates were nearly identical).

Bottom line: both are incredibly hard to match into, though your chances are slightly better than if you were just flipping a coin. They are also incredibly different residencies and careers in many significant ways. First, ortho residency is 60-80 hours a week, but a lot of that time is academic - reading, treatment planning, conferences. There are no ortho emergencies during the night that are actually seen by the orthodontist in the ED/hospital/office. Contrast this with OMFS, where the "lighter" weeks are usually 70-80 hours, but most residents work 80-100 hours. This does not include time for reading - it is expected that residents will read on their "free" time. Second, the personality type who goes into ortho, is, in general, different that than that goes into OMFS. Ortho types are very bright, motivated, hard-working individuals who either a) went into dental school already set on ortho, b) hated everything else in dentistry and defaulted to ortho or c) kicked a** in dental school, loved ortho and went for it. OMFSers tend to be similarly bright, motivated and hard-working individuals who either a) went into dental school already set on OMFS, b) hated everything else in dentistry and decided on OMFS because it's so different from everything else or c) kicked a** in dental school and wanted an a**-kicking back from residency.

 

[hotrod0917]

c) kicked a** in dental school and wanted an a**-kicking back from residency.

lol Well said Gary. Hopefully i'll get my a**-kicked starting 2011.

 

[dentalWorks]

How does the student match into OMFS 6 or 4 year programs. I mean does the student simply check "OMFS", and which ever program accepts them, he/she goes? Or does the student have the option to choose only 4 or only 6 year programs?

 

[Ninety]

i was in this conflict before, OMFS vs Ortho?
i dont want to choose omfs since it is highly demanding and requires you to be really really motivated, otherwise will end either stopping your residency or hating your future career (and i am not that motivated towards surgery)
ortho, on the other hand, is delicate, clean field dentistry which doesnt require much hand skill but much thinking and treatment planning, so mostly i am going to ortho
regarding competition, numbers are so close and 'numberwise' they are of alomst equal competitiveness!

 

[OMFS ORIF]

How does the student match into OMFS 6 or 4 year programs. I mean does the student simply check "OMFS", and which ever program accepts them, he/she goes? Or does the student have the option to choose only 4 or only 6 year programs?

You can apply to both programs if you want which many people do. In my opinion and what I have heard, some programs don't mind you applying to both and some programs prefer you pick one. When you apply to PASS and later when you rank in MATCH, you pick both 4 and 6 yr if you so choose. They each have different registration numbers.

 

[smogdodger]

How does the student match into OMFS 6 or 4 year programs. I mean does the student simply check "OMFS", and which ever program accepts them, he/she goes? Or does the student have the option to choose only 4 or only 6 year programs?

Nice data Gary! As far as applying to 4 vs 6 yr OMFS- It is best if you can figure out which route is best for you before you apply because you can spend your $$$ toward the kind of programs that will best suit your interests and it shows your interviewers that you know what you want. A wise plan is to extern at both 4 and 6 yr programs and figure it out before applying.

 

[melonbobo]

From what I have heard, 6 year OMFS residency may have more strict board score requirements than ortho or 4-year programs. The reason is that medical school generally require 90+ on NBDE.