Bruxomaniac said:
The following is a list of questions regarding a career in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
1. Is it possible and feasible to have an OMS practice that focuses strictly on reconstructive surgery due to either trauma or birth defects (i.e. cleft lip/palate, etc.)?
2. What is a typical day like for an OMS (considering those that mainly perform 3rd molar extractions and work out of their own office and those that work mostly out of a hospital)?
3. Can't we change the name of this practice to Oromaxillofacial Surgery or Orofacial Surgery or better yet, Orocraniofacial Surgery. Seriously, 'Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery' is a bit too long?
1. Is it possible and feasible to have an OMS practice that focuses strictly on reconstructive surgery due to either trauma or birth defects (i.e. cleft lip/palate, etc.)?
You can, but if you do it would be easier to do as an academic. The best way to do this in private practice really would be to get boarded as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon after you do oms, which many oms folks do. The problem with just strictly doing reconstructive (or craniofacial, or cosmetics, etc.) is that you have to get priviledges at a hospital to do those procedures. This will keep you from doing these procedures unless you can prove to the hospital that you are competent enough to do them. You really won't make any money off of trauma unless you get a sweet deal from a hospital for taking call, so you have to decide how much money means to you.
2. What is a typical day like for an OMS (considering those that mainly perform 3rd molar extractions and work out of their own office and those that work mostly out of a hospital)?
Pretty sweet, for the most part. Something to keep in mind here is that you just don't do third molars. You get the teeth that the GPs snap off or don't want to do because they are gonna suck. You get the wheelchair patients because the GPs don't want to touch them. You get the coumadin/heart attack/crazy/scared patients because the GPs don't want to touch them. You get the infections and the people in pain because the GPs don't want the headaches. Most of the folks that I know with a strong hospital practice still do a ton of third molars and dentoalveolar, because that is where the easy money is. You can do it in your office, low morbidity, short time to do it. Don't forget implants. They are a good money maker too.
3. Can't we change the name of this practice to Oromaxillofacial Surgery or Orofacial Surgery or better yet, Orocraniofacial Surgery. Seriously, 'Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery' is a bit too long?
I suppose you could. Just call it OMS, you will feel better about it.
