Training, whether in a 4-year or 6-year program, depends a lot on the program itself rather than its duration. Some programs are very dentoalveolar-heavy, others are orthognathic-heavy, while others are pathology/cancer-heavy. Every resident, whether in a 4-year or 6-year program, is going to be trained more thoroughly in some areas than others, however all will (or should) have a minimum amount of training in all the required disciplines. On top of that, you should be aware that some 6-year programs have some 4-year residents filling-in for drop-outs. It happens. Do you think that the 4-year chief resident is going to be better trained than his 6-year cohort?
Look at the program as some only go a couple years, others do 3 and some a bit more. We do 1 partial ,2,3 and part of 4th here.
1st. 4 year guys are just as well trained in OMFS as 6 year guys, even more so in certain aspects of OMFS, as they typically spend more than the 30 months on service required by the ADA; most 6 year progams only have time for 30 months on OMFS. With that said, the 6 year guys usually have a better grasp of medical knowledge and how to apply it...please do not argue 4 year guys it is not a matter of intelligence here just the facts of spending more time in the classroom and on rotations as a medical student. The choice to do a 6 year program has to do with your personal goals nothing more.
However, According to JOMS, MD trained OMFS have more privilages in hospitals for procedures. This is just a fact and has to do with licensing boards at hospitals, not skill levels. You must have the DDS with a license to get sedation privilages in all states unless you are a gas passer (aesthesiologst) so this is a mute point. In general those pursuing MDs usually THINK they prefer hospital settings as career choices (much less pay, more hours, but bigger cases) but this not always the case.
Hope this helps.
P.S. When I was in dental school I thought it was ok for perio or a GD to get IV sed certified. After spending some time on anesthsia, doing a few hundred sedations, and seeing what can go wrong, I no longer feel this is in the pt's best interest. OMFS guys have required training in anesthesia and perform more sedations during residency alone than most perio/GD will do in a lifetime so they usually have a great grasp of how to manage emergencies...think about it a second. As well, OMFS are the only dental specialty with hospital admitting privilages which means they have the needed education to preoperatively evaulate a patient prior to sedation...believe me, know who can safely undergo sedation is more important than knowing how to push drugs.[/QUOTE]