OMFS scope after graduation

[Mocizzle]

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Hi guys, i'm currently a dental student and am falling in love with omfs. The point that concerns me is the following: If i do the large procedures (which is what attracted me) they supposedly "dont pay well" can anyone quantify this statement please, with salary info? (Im assuming a hospital based salary is best compare, but i cant find any info on that online)
Like tbh i just feel its such a waste to do 6 years of residency to do extractions and implants for a living, like okay i wouldnt mind doing that a day a week but would prefer 2-3 days doing these life changing procedures and really changing lives! But admittedly I want to be paid well after accumulating such debt...
Does private practice cater to this? All the job offers i see for omfs private practice is just wisdom teeth... its really discouraging me. Dont get me wrong i love extractions but a good gpr residency could get u handling most

 

[deleted913442]

I’m in a similar boat and have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, do what you LOVE. As a surgeon you will make a fantastic income, even if it is a little less than someone who does mainly extractions and implants. Debt sucks and all but doing what you love is priority (to me at least), especially in such an incredible field.

I’ve heard that the ideal scenario as someone who wants to do these life changing hospital cases (I.e. cleft palate and lip) is to do that once or twice a week, and then do private practice the other 3 or so days.

 

[Mocizzle]

I’m in a similar boat and have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, do what you LOVE. As a surgeon you will make a fantastic income, even if it is a little less than someone who does mainly extractions and implants. Debt sucks and all but doing what you love is priority (to me at least), especially in such an incredible field.

I’ve heard that the ideal scenario as someone who wants to do these life changing hospital cases (I.e. cleft palate and lip) is to do that once or twice a week, and then do private practice the other 3 or so days.

that's what i am thinking too, you think that hospitals are flexible in this regard?

 

[deleted913442]

that's what i am thinking too, you think that hospitals are flexible in this regard?

No too sure but I dont see why not since I think they’d need you more than you’d need them for these complex cases (could be completely wrong)

 

[ucd2018]

if 6 years is a waste then just do a 4 year residency lol

 

[FullyRelaxed]

I’m in a similar boat and have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, do what you LOVE. As a surgeon you will make a fantastic income, even if it is a little less than someone who does mainly extractions and implants. Debt sucks and all but doing what you love is priority (to me at least), especially in such an incredible field.

I’ve heard that the ideal scenario as someone who wants to do these life changing hospital cases (I.e. cleft palate and lip) is to do that once or twice a week, and then do private practice the other 3 or so days.

You won’t be doing cleft lips and palates unless you do a fellowship after a (likely) 6 year residency. It’s not really as easy as “i think i’ll do 2 clefts this week”. You’d need to be part of a cleft team...and that means starting your own somewhere or joining an OMFS department that has a fellowship.

 

[sjv]

I’m in a similar boat and have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, do what you LOVE. As a surgeon you will make a fantastic income, even if it is a little less than someone who does mainly extractions and implants. Debt sucks and all but doing what you love is priority (to me at least), especially in such an incredible field.

I’ve heard that the ideal scenario as someone who wants to do these life changing hospital cases (I.e. cleft palate and lip) is to do that once or twice a week, and then do private practice the other 3 or so days.

Not enough of that scope (clefts) in residency itself?

Cleft lip and palate is dominated by plastic surgery and to a lesser extent ENT. A fellowship is definitely required and let's just say the market for oral surgeons in this aspect is very, very small. Oral surgery tends to repair more alveolar clefts.

If you wish to do mostly OR cases with a side of dentoalveolar, then you should aim for a career in academics. You can expect between $200-350k/yr as an academic oral surgeon (from what I've been told). While it is true that private practice is mostly dentoalveolar, some practices do a significant amount of orthognathic cases and you can also take trauma call at local hospitals to get in on the facial trauma action.

 

[FullyRelaxed]

Cleft lip and palate is dominated by plastic surgery and to a lesser extent ENT. A fellowship is definitely required and let's just say the market for oral surgeons in this aspect is very, very small. Oral surgery tends to repair more alveolar clefts.

If you wish to do mostly OR cases with a side of dentoalveolar, then you should aim for a career in academics. You can expect between $200-350k/yr as an academic oral surgeon (from what I've been told). While it is true that private practice is mostly dentoalveolar, some practices do a significant amount of orthognathic cases and you can also take trauma call at local hospitals to get in on the facial trauma action.

Agreed with everything above. I will add that there are quite a few academic jobs that pay on the high end of that range and a little above. Most of the time the salary that you can google or find in a similar matter is a base and the attending will also get a percentage of his collections.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

Agreed with everything above. I will add that there are quite a few academic jobs that pay on the high end of that range and a little above. Most of the time the salary that you can google or find in a similar matter is a base and the attending will also get a percentage of his collections.

I'll link some info on this because it is publically available. You can find any person's salary who is a public employee in Texas on this website. Oral surgeon/academics will appear here.
San Antonio Oral surg

Baylor's oral surgery

 

[omfsing]

I think the scope of OMFS after graduation, for the vast majority of grads, can be summarized by the legendary band AC/DC:

 

[FullyRelaxed]

I'll link some info on this because it is publically available. You can find any person's salary who is a public employee in Texas on this website. Oral surgeon/academics will appear here.
San Antonio Oral surg

Baylor's oral surgery

Those are base salaries just so you are aware. They also take home a percentage of collections.

 

[sjv]

I just looked up the data for our OMFS faculty's salaries (at a public research university in the Midwest). According to this data, Dr. S, a very prominent figure of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, earned $190k in 2017. Another DDS/MD surgeon earned $163k a year. This is way lower than the $200-350k range that was given somewhere in this thread.

That is likely their base pay, if they have a faculty clinic or operate they receive a portion of collections or RVU production incentives.

Take a look at full time UCLA/UCSF faculty on here (you have to search their name) but it differentiates between base pay and gross pay.

Compensation at the University of California: Annual Wage

ucannualwage.ucop.edu

It would be embarrassing for a full time "prominent figure" to be paid that much considering there are faculty members who are less than <5 years out making significantly more than that but not out of the ordinary if they were part time.