Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery

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SPR1624

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Is it worth the extra time? It's an extra 6-7 years without pay right? And the debt must be enormous.

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You are paid while you're doing your residency. How much depends on the program, but I think it's somewhere around 40K or so a year.
 
You are paid while you're doing your residency. How much depends on the program, but I think it's somewhere around 40K or so a year.

Don't forget about the 2 years of medical school tuition that must be paid.
 
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Is it worth the extra time? It's an extra 6-7 years without pay right? And the debt must be enormous.

Most programs give out a stipend of around $50-55,000, residencies range from 4-6 years, and most programs don't pay the stipend while you're in medical school. Your debt does grow while you're in residency, but all the studies I've read have shown that the return on the investment of time and money pays off, not only with oral surgery but with any specialty.
 
and somebody has to be an oral surgeon.....
 
it's two years of medical school if you're in a 6 year, dual-degree residency. There are plenty of four year residencies out there... and unless you want to do some sort of surgery that requires the M.D., the 6 year residency doesn't gain you much but extra letters at the end of your name.

I've worked at an oral surgery practice for the last 4 years, and this is how I understand it (although i'm sure it's partially biased by the fact that they both did the 4 year residency). But they both have full operating privileges at major hospitals, and both have been on-call for trauma as well.
 
it's an extra 4 years usually and it is worth it financially. i work at an omfs office right now, and each GA case with all 4 extractions is about 2k. local cases are about 1k. this is each hr. he usually has 5 cases each day, all in the morning starting at 7:30. in the afternoons it's only consultations, which is like $50 each. but he told me the avg NET income each day is about 4k.

so 4k x 5 days = 20k each week, x 4 = 80k per month.
80k x 12 months = $960,000 per year...dammmnnnn.
 
Doing OMFS for the money is the wrong motivation. Here is the process of getting in....
1. Do extremely well in college to get into dental school, preferably to one that produces lots of specialists. Also, a lot of med schools look at UG grades for OMFS.

2. Do extremely well in dental school to be competitive and rock the boards.

3. Successfully match to a 6yr-MD integrated OMFS residency

4. Spend 6yrs post graduate of a professional 4yr school to become an OMFS.

4+4+6=14yrs

Now that is IF everything goes to plan. Non-matching, or not getting accepted anywhere along the way extends this journey years at a time.

Better be ready for the long haul and a ton of educational loans.
 
it's an extra 4 years usually and it is worth it financially. i work at an omfs office right now, and each GA case with all 4 extractions is about 2k. local cases are about 1k. this is each hr. he usually has 5 cases each day, all in the morning starting at 7:30. in the afternoons it's only consultations, which is like $50 each. but he told me the avg NET income each day is about 4k.

so 4k x 5 days = 20k each week, x 4 = 80k per month.
80k x 12 months = $960,000 per year...dammmnnnn.

You're forgetting the massive overhead of a practice though. Taxes will also knock the take home total down by quite a bit. If the overhead is the typical 50-70%, this OS is probably seeing closer to $350,000 per year. It's possible that they could be doing more, but that would be closer to the national average. Still, $350k is nothing to sniff at.
 
You should do what you like. If you like oral surgery I would do it. Sure it's more time and more money but you will come out ahead in the end if you can get in and finish. If you don't like oral surgery then that's another story. It's a competitive program to get into and most work typical MD hours (i.e. long) but most of them don't mind.
 
Doing OMFS for the money is the wrong motivation. Here is the process of getting in....
1. Do extremely well in college to get into dental school, preferably to one that produces lots of specialists. Also, a lot of med schools look at UG grades for OMFS.

2. Do extremely well in dental school to be competitive and rock the boards.

3. Successfully match to a 6yr-MD integrated OMFS residency

4. Spend 6yrs post graduate of a professional 4yr school to become an OMFS.

4+4+6=14yrs

Now that is IF everything goes to plan. Non-matching, or not getting accepted anywhere along the way extends this journey years at a time.

Better be ready for the long haul and a ton of educational loans.

For those interested in the military, they base acceptances into their post doctoral programs somewhat different by including military experience. So, if you were in the Army (or any of theother branches), you could do the 1 yr GPR + 2 year operational tour and then apply to OMFS if the Army is in need. But do not join the military for this.
 
For those interested in the military, they base acceptances into their post doctoral programs somewhat different by including military experience. So, if you were in the Army (or any of theother branches), you could do the 1 yr GPR + 2 year operational tour and then apply to OMFS if the Army is in need. But do not join the military for this.

4yrs UG + 4yrs D-school + 1yr GPR +2yrs operational tour + 4yrs OMFS = 15yrs..
 
4yrs UG + 4yrs D-school + 1yr GPR +2yrs operational tour + 4yrs OMFS = 15yrs..

I *think* all those years count towards retirement (20yr requirement). Pension/benefits arent that bad.
 
As you can tell by my name, I am definitely headed this route. I have already completed the first 4 years of undergraduate and now got accepted to Dental School and I am certainly looking forward to OMFS afterwards if I can haul @$$ and get a successful match.

BTW. Some schools offer a shortened 4 year OMFS degree without the MD incentive but you will still be an OMFS if you don't mind losing the prestige of another title.

So 2 years in exchange for no MD but an OMFS I'll take that...
 
to specialize, especially OMFS, its all politics, basically therse only about 1 seat most schools have. nyu has 3 seats, 1 6 year and 2 4 year. so essentially the only way you can become an OMFS is by being good looking and social.
 
Who says you are guaranteed to make more as an oral surgeon than you would as a GP ? You will have a 6 yr head start as a general dentist, ....and no oral surgeon will be busy from day 1....they may take a few yrs to build up a solid referral base.

Never underestimate potential of general dentistry. If you are ambitious and interested in this field there is no reason why a general dentist can't remove impacted 3rds - , or place implants, or ....... ?

The truth is....if you are busy you can make just as much money doing crown and bridge and endo......and you could always hire an OS to come in to do your surgical cases for you and just pay him a cut of the billings.

Certainly, there is a prestige factor involved here with the "oral surgeon" title.....but if a main goal is income you may well be better off with general dentistry when you look at the whole picture. Just some food for thought......

All the best.
 
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