Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology

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captaintripps

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As a dental student and grad student in biomed I have considered training in this field. I wonder if some of the pathologists here could provide any info about this specialty.

thanks.

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captaintripps said:
As a dental student and grad student in biomed I have considered training in this field. I wonder if some of the pathologists here could provide any info about this specialty.

thanks.

It is definitely a good way to go. Lots of intersting cases, big overlap with Dermpath and head and neck path. Probably pretty lucrative if you can't get into a academic spot where you sign out lots of cases a day. However, is it going to be as good as putting braces on bratty teens? Not sure about that.
 
Pathmonster said:
It is definitely a good way to go. Lots of intersting cases, big overlap with Dermpath and head and neck path. Probably pretty lucrative if you can't get into a academic spot where you sign out lots of cases a day. However, is it going to be as good as putting braces on bratty teens? Not sure about that.

Thanks for your input. I'm starting to conclude that I don't want to put braces on bratty teens. I was about the worst orthodontic patient 18 years ago, so I know what to expect.
 
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I am not sure how lucrative it is - I think the typical salary is 20-30% lower than that of an MD pathologist, but I may be wrong. You can do training in oral path as part of a dental residency, and there are many practicing oral pathologists out there. You mostly look at biopsies that come from the dentist's office and see lots of oral cancers, mandibular cysts, some minor salivary gland diagnoses.
 
I'm rotating on oral path this month and it's a lot of fun. The cases are interesting and there is good clinical-path correlation. Having no dental training, however, I'm struggling to remember the oral cavity anatomy that I probably learned first year of med school. Otherwise, it's a great rotation and I think it would be a good area to go into. If you like it, go for it!
 
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