Specializing in Ortho

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No, you're not interpreting the match results properly. The number of "applicants participating in the match" is the same as saying "applicants who had at least 1 interview." In the case of 2004, this number was 504. "Positions offered" is the number of spots there are out there; for 2004, this was 244.

There may have been more than 504 applicants because there are applicants who get zero interviews. But if you get at least 1, you will most likely participate in the match to see if you get into that program, or any others if you had more than 1 interview.

However, not every program participates in match, so there are more than 244 spots each year. The programs that don't participate in match make their acceptance offers prior to the match. Applicants who get accepted this way must withdraw from the match, so they don't get included in the 504 "applicants participating in the match."

Confusing? I think so.

Bottom line - cross your fingers and hold your breath. If you are the religious type, pray. A lot.

Thanks for the explanation. Do you what is the total number of people that apply for Ortho (with or without interview)?

Thanks

 

[Lin709]

anyone know anything about canadian programs (ortho) and how that works as far as obtaining a license to practice in the U.S?

 

[kato999]

I remember reading something, it might have been an ASDA book, (take it for what its worth) that said there were over 800 ortho applicants in 2001. Sorry I don't have a source right now, I will dig around and try to find it.

 

[texas_dds]

anyone know anything about canadian programs (ortho) and how that works as far as obtaining a license to practice in the U.S?

my experience w/canadian ortho programs was not positive! they will not interview anyone without at least one year of experience after dschool, no matter what kind of rank or board scores you throw at them. you at least have a shot at US programs if you are a graduating senior.

as far as coming back to the US - eek I think you have to check w/each state. Im pretty sure the only way out of taking the WREB (at least in texas) is if you have another state's license PLUS are board certified in a specialty. I am not sure if it matters where the specialty was done (I am assuming all canadian ortho programs are ADA accredited??) but every state differs on this.

 

[Divinity]

What does it take? When you find out, notify sdog, who has applied year after year with the following stats and still not been accepted:

Part I - 96
Part II - 92
Class rank - 11/93 (just outside top 10% and pretty darn good)
Research - 3 years with presentations at national/international levels
GPR - yes, one year

Match for Ortho? Not a single one, even after multiple interviews, for the past two years.


Or, as griffin04 what Ortho programs want. She has great board scores, high class rank, a GPR, and after two years hasn't gotten an acceptence.

Hi all,
I am a third year dental student who is interested in ortho. I am beginning to visit schools, and I wanted to know what questions I should ask, what should I be looking for in a good ortho program?

 

[Wah]

Hi all,
I am a third year dental student who is interested in ortho. I am beginning to visit schools, and I wanted to know what questions I should ask, what should I be looking for in a good ortho program?

First thing that I would want to know is who the program director is, and how long he/she has been there. There are a couple of schools out there that either have no program director, or have seemed to have had a new director every year.

Other things to ask about...
How many full time faculty...
Do the residents like the faculty...
Types of brackets/mechanics used (prescription, 0-0, tip-edge, tweed, invisalign...)
How many days/week in clinic treating patients...
How many starts (too many? too little?)...
How many surgery patients...
How many cleft patients...
How much time spent in classroom...
Research?
Other responsibilities (ie, teaching dental students)
How much lab work...
Digital radiology and Dolphin? Or analog and hand trace cephs...
Do the residents like the program???

 

[gryffindor]

How many starts (too many? too little?)...
How many surgery patients...
How many cleft patients...

Wah: About these three questions -

What do you consider too many vs. too few starts? I saw programs with 100+ starts, and several with 50ish starts. Residents at neither program scenario complained that "I have too many starts" or "I don't have enough." Instead, they all bragged that the number they started is a very good number. So what, in your opinion, is better?

Surgery vs. cleft - a few programs had a significant number of surgery & cleft patients, but the majority seemed to have very little of these types of cases. Again - what kind of answers would you want to hear? I wouldn't think you'd see a lot of cleft in practice, but how about surgery cases? Do you see a significant amount that should be treated with surgery but maybe aren't b/c the orthodontist isn't familiar with it (due to not seeing much of it in residency) and therefore may avoid pursuing/pushing it?

 

[Wah]

Wah: About these three questions -

What do you consider too many vs. too few starts? I saw programs with 100+ starts, and several with 50ish starts. Residents at neither program scenario complained that "I have too many starts" or "I don't have enough." Instead, they all bragged that the number they started is a very good number. So what, in your opinion, is better?

Surgery vs. cleft - a few programs had a significant number of surgery & cleft patients, but the majority seemed to have very little of these types of cases. Again - what kind of answers would you want to hear? I wouldn't think you'd see a lot of cleft in practice, but how about surgery cases? Do you see a significant amount that should be treated with surgery but maybe aren't b/c the orthodontist isn't familiar with it (due to not seeing much of it in residency) and therefore may avoid pursuing/pushing it?

There is no "best" number of starts... it depends on the program. In one residency, 100+ starts may be doable, especially if the residents are in clinic every day, have assistants (that actually assist) and/or are not required to do lab work (trim models, make appliances, retainers, etc). In other programs, 100 would be too much... I started about 50 patients this year. I am expecting a bunch of retention patients (more records) and active transfers, so I really don't want much more.
There IS such thing as having too many or too few patients. I spoke with a resident from another school who told me that he had over 250 active patients and that he was booked solid for 2 to 3 months in advance. What happens when a patient breaks an appointment? I'm sure he is learning a lot from all his patients, but I'm wondering if his patients are receiving the quality of care they deserve. For an orthodontist in private practice, that number is beans, but for a resident that is just learning how to do ortho with one or two chairs and no assistants??? On the other hand, if you find yourself in clinic with nothing to do all the time... then you have too few patients. 😛

Surgery... I would want to hear that the residents are seeing at the very least a couple of these patients and, most importantly, are comfortable with diagnosing and treating surgical cases. There are orthodontists out there that will not even give a treatment option of surgery to a patient that may need it because they were trained to extract. If I were a patient that could have benefitted from orthognathic surgery and my orthodontist just shucked some premolars just to get a Class I molar without even giving me an option of surgery because he didn't know how to treat me surgically, I'd be f-ing pissed. We all know what informed consent is...

Cleft is probably more of a specialty within a specialty... If you are interested in facial deformity, then it would be nice to know if the program has opportunities to learn more...

I forgot about IMPLANTS... Ask if the residents treat cases with miniscrews for orthodontic anchorage. Great stuff... 👍

 

[Profchaos]

This is just someone's opinion on the breakdown of who gets to specialize. It might put things in perspective for some people. Enjoy! http://members.tripod.com/~softballteam/specialty.html

You have a shot at endo being top 10 at UOP. That sounds like a good deal. Is it because UOP doesn't have an endo department so the students can brag they've done substantial amount of endo practices?

 

[ItsGavinC]

I remember reading something, it might have been an ASDA book, (take it for what its worth) that said there were over 800 ortho applicants in 2001. Sorry I don't have a source right now, I will dig around and try to find it.

So in very general terms, if all the applicants applied to every school, then ~1/2 of the applicants would get at least one interview, and ~1/2 of those applicants would get an acceptance. Right?

 

[DDSSlave]

If a program states in its description that their preferred technique is Edgewise, what does that really mean? What exactly is edgewise mechanics?

Another odd question, but does anyone happen to know if Oklahoma awards a Masters?

 

[Austin1]

If a program states in its description that their preferred technique is Edgewise, what does that really mean? What exactly is edgewise mechanics?

Another odd question, but does anyone happen to know if Oklahoma awards a Masters?

Yeah, OU awards a masters. I have a good buddy who is a resident right now that graduates in August. PM me if you have any more questions that I could ask him for you.