perio or pros??

[fishstalker73]

Perio or pros?

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[Lane138]

This isn't really something an Internet forum can chose for you. Which specialty do you have a passion for? Perio and Prosth are very different on a day to day practice basis. It's not just about placing implants vs not. Maybe talk to some practicing periodontist and prosthodontists to figure out which one you click with more?

In general it's not worth specializing just to specialize. Instead of doin a 2-3 year residency just to be able to work in limited settings, why don't you do the AS and get the full DMD degree? Then, be a great general dentist and place as many implants as you want

 

[fishstalker73]

Thanks for your suggestion

 

[Pedodel]

Stay away from a Pros residency. No one refers to pros except cases and patients that no one wants to deal with. All the pros docs I know are basically GP's. They get very few referrals except crazy crap and crazy patients that no one wants to deal with. The majority of their work is GP stuff. As a practicioner of 16 years, I think pros is the most useless of specialties.

 

[gatorfan99]

Stay away from a Pros residency. No one refers to pros except cases and patients that no one wants to deal with. All the pros docs I know are basically GP's. They get very few referrals except crazy crap and crazy patients that no one wants to deal with. The majority of their work is GP stuff. As a practicioner of 16 years, I think pros is the most useless of specialties.

Completely disagree. Prosth can lead to an incredibly deep understanding of dentistry that your "16 yr practitioner" experience would never even dream of possible (you don't know what you don't know).

To the OP, look into various programs, shadow a few Prosth residents and see what they do, see if you even can shadow a working Prosth somewhere, then make your decision.

 

[BellaNella]

Completely disagree. Prosth can lead to an incredibly deep understanding of dentistry that your "16 yr practitioner" experience would never even dream of possible (you don't know what you don't know).

To the OP, look into various programs, shadow a few Prosth residents and see what they do, see if you even can shadow a working Prosth somewhere, then make your decision.

I agree with gatorfan99. I shadowed pros residents for a year and it allowed me to see dentistry through them and it is like opening a door you never knew existed. After seeing what pros residents do, I could not imagine doing anything else.

Perio is also an amazing specialty that is very complimentary to pros but completely different. I think the best thing you could do would be to shadow some residents in both specialties.

 

[Pedodel]

Best of luck to you! Just being honest and sincere.... Pros is not the best way to go, IMHO ,,, if you are debating,,, I'd do perio. I don't know of ANY Pros graduates that are doing much pros..and getting many,,, if any , referrals.. Most I know are practicing as GP's who do very little extra pros. Best to you regardless. Just being realistic.

 

[hahadino2771]

Both prosth and perio are dying specialties. Avg applicants for a program with 2 to 3 spots would be like 10 to 18 and many of them are dentists from other countries too.

Prosth- you will rarely get referrals from GPs since most money in restorative dentistry is in bread and butter dentistry. Unless you are a top cosmetic dentist in Hollywood, I see that there is no difference in terms of scope of practice from GP's jobs. I know some prosthodontists working as an associate GP and spending most of his day doing hygiene checks at corporates lol. Knowledge and skills will help with treatment planning. I am not so sure how much of that knowledge is used in bread and butter resto dentistry. These days, full mouth recons, all on fours, and complex implant works are done by GPs.

Perio - 80% of traditional perio procedures are rarely performed. Main focus of this specialty is implant placement, bone grafting, and soft tissue managements. All the easy implants will be dominated by GPs, and perio will get referrals for super difficult anterior esthetic cases. I know lots of periodontists working as a GP and doing both implant surgery and resto. According to them, perio is a dying specialty...

Best of luck to you! Just being honest and sincere.... Pros is not the best way to go, IMHO ,,, if you are debating,,, I'd do perio. I don't know of ANY Pros graduates that are doing much pros..and getting many,,, if any , referrals.. Most I know are practicing as GP's who do very little extra pros. Best to you regardless. Just being realistic.

 

[gatorfan99]

Both prosth and perio are dying specialties. Avg applicants for a program with 2 to 3 spots would be like 10 to 18 and many of them are dentists from other countries too.

Prosth- you will rarely get referrals from GPs since most money in restorative dentistry is in bread and butter dentistry. Unless you are a top cosmetic dentist in Hollywood, I see that there is no difference in terms of scope of practice from GP's jobs. I know some prosthodontists working as an associate GP and spending most of his day doing hygiene checks at corporates lol. Knowledge and skills will help with treatment planning. I am not so sure how much of that knowledge is used in bread and butter resto dentistry. These days, full mouth recons, all on fours, and complex implant works are done by GPs.

Perio - 80% of traditional perio procedures are rarely performed. Main focus of this specialty is implant placement, bone grafting, and soft tissue managements. All the easy implants will be dominated by GPs, and perio will get referrals for super difficult anterior esthetic cases. I know lots of periodontists working as a GP and doing both implant surgery and resto. According to them, perio is a dying specialty...

The "dying specialty" talk has been around for decades.. The truth is, you can do great in any specialty you choose, you just need to have a team approach to dentistry and make good relationships with your referral base.

As tuition (and therefore student loans) get ever more outrageous, dentists are getting more and more desperate to pay their bills and therefore are trying to get into more and more specialty procedures (got pay the bills, right?). The vague hope is that there is enough good CE out there to make up for your lack of training (there isn't, just like you can't learn to be a competent dentist in weekend courses, you can't learn to be a competent specialist without actually doing specialty training) - problem is, they will make tons of mistakes and someone has to fix their crappy work (hello specialists). Other things in the horizon include the future wave of peri-implantitis which is getting bigger by the day (latest estimate is that 30-40% of implants will have some form of this) and, of course, the patients with periodontal disease that are not being treated (all in the name of "keeping it in house").

Be a great specialist, do great work and ignore the nay-sayers.

 

[gatorfan99]

I agree with gatorfan99. I shadowed pros residents for a year and it allowed me to see dentistry through them and it is like opening a door you never knew existed. After seeing what pros residents do, I could not imagine doing anything else.

Perio is also an amazing specialty that is very complimentary to pros but completely different. I think the best thing you could do would be to shadow some residents in both specialties.

General dentist = line cook

Prosthodontist = Michelin starred chef

Both serve food, the question is, which serves a better meal?