Switching Career Plans

[Kong57]

To begin this thread, I would like to point out that I have recently been accepted to dental school with the mindset of going into oral surgery. After talking to several practicing dentists from various specialties, I have been given the advice to go into first year with an open mind-- not focusing on going into a specific specialty.
For those out there that had their minds set on a specific specialty going into school, how many of you have changed your mind or stuck with your original goal. Thanks!

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[Thunderdome23]

I'm a third year dental student who had my heart my set on OMFS until 3rd year. After performing many procedures within every specialty I get the most satisfaction from seeing a patients reaction after completing cosmetic procedures, not from surgery. Patients already dont like going to the dentist, but they REALLY don't like going to the oral surgeon. No one says "thank you" for pulling out their teeth, lol. I also think private practice OMFS is pretty boring and not worth the crazy residency. OMFS private practice sureons pull teeth all day and place some implants. General dentists can do this, but just send the ones that are more complicated to the OMFS. I think it would be more interesting to be a gp and have the variety of procedures and the ability to change up at any time. I always find it funny when a predent thinks they want to be an oral surgeon without having done any dentistry yet. Oral surgey "sounds" glamorous cuz ur called a surgeon, but what you do in pp is def monotomous. Most ppl who do omfs are people who do not like anything else in dentistry, just some food for thought....

 

[reapply2007]

Four years for college, Four years for dental school, fours years for OMFS (possibly six years). If you start college when you are 18, you'll be thirty before you pick up your first paycheck.

I think they make the residency hellish just to finally get these people to get a job.

 

[VCUDDS]

I agree that you should go into D school with an open mind even if you think you want to go into a specific specialty. having said that, there is nothing wrong with keeping special interest in omfs during those years. I would say you can even approach dept chair, program director and residents to get a feel of what the specialty is like, it'll be more realistic than watching an OMFS in private practice.
Now, with all due respect to the previous two postings, everything you guys said is true, but you guys painted a very grim picture for OMFS, there is a reason why OMFS is one of the hardest specialties to get into and that's because it's so demanding in both training and practice, and eventhough most omfs in practice tend to stick to 3rds and implants, other do practice wider scope of omfs and that is a personal choice dictated by training and perference. the bottom line is, you need to know dentistry first, get a feel of what it's like being one vs. being a specialist, and then make up your mind wether you want to make the extra commitment to do it.

On a side note, I don't think making 300K+/yr as an omfs is bad either!.

 

[MTD52]

On a side note, I don't think making 300K+/yr as an omfs is bad either!.

Do they really make that much?

 

[Flipper405]

Do they really make that much?

yes

 

[MTD52]

yes

Wow. To my knowledge (and what I was told on one of my interviews), both Ortho and Pedo are higher paid specialties than OMFS.

 

[Flipper405]

Wow. To my knowledge (and what I was told on one of my interviews), both Ortho and Pedo are higher paid specialties than OMFS.

they also make that much
I believe these are also the three most competitive specialties? someone correct me if i'm wrong

 

[yojimbo53]

i would say if you own your own practice, then that's likely. but, in my opinion (and some may disagree), ortho generally does not pay as much at the associate/contractor level. i know endo and omfs residents who have pulled in $5-10K moonlighting in a single saturday. you'll never make that much in a single day as an ortho associate/contractor.

Wow. To my knowledge (and what I was told on one of my interviews), both Ortho and Pedo are higher paid specialties than OMFS.

 

[yojimbo53]

endo is more competitive than pedo.

they also make that much
I believe these are also the three most competitive specialties? someone correct me if i'm wrong

 

[MTD52]

i would say if you own your own practice, then that's likely. but, in my opinion (and some may disagree), ortho generally does not pay as much at the associate/contractor level. i know endo and omfs residents who have pulled in $5-10K moonlighting in a single saturday. you'll never make that much in a single day as an ortho associate/contractor.

What about Pedo? Like I said, during a presentation at one of my interviews, I was told the current ranks for highest paid are: Pedo, Ortho, OMFS, etc.

 

[OceanDMD]

What about Pedo? Like I said, during a presentation at one of my interviews, I was told the current ranks for highest paid are: Pedo, Ortho, OMFS, etc.

GOD bless those Pedo people.