Oral surgery is long haul but the rewards are great. You must enjoy research and get ready to be in one of the most demading fields in all of medicine/dentistry.
To become an oral surgeon----I assume you probably know this----you need to complete 4 years of dental school. Be in the top 10 of you class (+/-) and have incredible board I scores. Not to mention a passion for reasearch throughout dental school and some great recommendations. Once you graduate --you then begin an incredibly rigorous 4 years of additional training. It consists of a demanding general surgical rotation for 2 years------where you are on call nearly every 3rd night (in some hospitals) and working 24-30hrs shifts is not uncommon. In addition you are normally a PhD candidate---so you will be working on research for you studies. Some Universities give an MD at the end of the 4 year curriculum---that should give you an idea of the demanding nature. Once you complete your 4 years of study/rotations you are now ready to be an OMS. Some individuals will further specialize in plastics, reconstuction etc...
The majority of OMS's I know work long hours. They are normally on call for trauma emerg. at the local hospital in addition to office hours. Others I know have more normal working hours ~45-50hrs a week. They are paid anywhere from $250-600,000 a yr. They need every penny for the large amount of debt they collect while accomplishing their goals. Especially since they aren't earning squat for 8 yrs!!!! I wish you the best of luck and hope this clears-up some things!
R.R.B
