What would you do?

[toothdr84]

I've just been accepted to D-school and I know I'm getting ahead of myself but bare with me...

I'm trying to decide whether I want to specialize (OMS) or do GP.

My father is a GP and owns a practice. This means I could work for him for about 5 years and eventually take over his practice. I would avoid the start-up costs and hassles that are involved with starting a practice. Also, it would be easy for me to build a nice patient base since I would retain many of my father's patients (simply because I'm his son). Basically I'm set if I choose GP.

Is the situation with my father too good to pass up for OMS? I mean it would take an extra 4-6 years, and starting a practice (or even finding an OMS to work with) is not an easy thing. But maybe it will pay off in the long run if I decide to specialize.

Assume I like GP and OMS equally (because at this point, I could see myself doing either, but I know that will change as I progress through D-school). I'm not looking for a "Do whatever you like doing the most." response. I'm just looking for other people's opinions on this situation. Anyone faced anything similar?

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[12YearOldKid]

I've just been accepted to D-school and I know I'm getting ahead of myself but bare with me...

I'm trying to decide whether I want to specialize (OMS) or do GP.

My father is a GP and owns a practice. This means I could work for him for about 5 years and eventually take over his practice. I would avoid the start-up costs and hassles that are involved with starting a practice. Also, it would be easy for me to build a nice patient base since I would retain many of my father's patients (simply because I'm his son). Basically I'm set if I choose GP.

Is the situation with my father too good to pass up for OMS? I mean it would take an extra 4-6 years, and starting a practice (or even finding an OMS to work with) is not an easy thing. But maybe it will pay off in the long run if I decide to specialize.

Assume I like GP and OMS equally (because at this point, I could see myself doing either, but I know that will change as I progress through D-school). I'm not looking for a "Do whatever you like doing the most." response. I'm just looking for other people's opinions on this situation. Anyone faced anything similar?

Depends on how financially successful you dad's office is. Also, is he going to hand over the keys or sell it to you at full market value? You really haven't given us much to work with here.

 

[toothdr84]

Ok let me clear that up. My dad's practice is very financially successful. I didn't want to mention that because I didn't want it to be a financial issue, but I guess it's hard to avoid financial issues with a situation like this. If you go by what ADA says, then my dad makes significantly more than the average specialist.

He definitely wouldn't just hand me the keys. There would be a contract so that I could buy the practice over a period of several years (five maybe). I don't think he would charge full market value because I'm his son, but I'm sure he would want a good chunk of change for his practice (for retirement and to be fair to my siblings).

 

[wizziefiend]

Ok let me clear that up. My dad's practice is very financially successful. I didn't want to mention that because I didn't want it to be a financial issue, but I guess it's hard to avoid financial issues with a situation like this. If you go by what ADA says, then my dad makes significantly more than the average specialist.

He definitely wouldn't just hand me the keys. There would be a contract so that I could buy the practice over a period of several years (five maybe). I don't think he would charge full market value because I'm his son, but I'm sure he would want a good chunk of change for his practice (for retirement and to be fair to my siblings).

Well, my boss who is a full scope OMFS HATES cutting teeth as he likes to say. He knew half way through his clinical training that he didn't want to be a general dentist. His father was a dentist and he had heavy exposure...yet he had no idea he would hate the actual work dentists do.

Now he loves OMFS...it's very different and most of the time less precise than GP and that matches him well.

I think you should be fortunate to be in that position. I'd just enter dental school with full steam to make sure you get those grades you need to specialize if you want. That's what I'm gonna do. If I graduate near the top of my class and do GP...o well, at least I had the option to pursue further training.

It would be EXTREMELY tempting to walk straight out of dschool into my father's practice if I could. Best of luck making that decision...that's a tough one!!

Where are you headed to school by the way?

 

[shabu2]

I've just been accepted to D-school and I know I'm getting ahead of myself but bare with me...

I'm trying to decide whether I want to specialize (OMS) or do GP.

My father is a GP and owns a practice. This means I could work for him for about 5 years and eventually take over his practice. I would avoid the start-up costs and hassles that are involved with starting a practice. Also, it would be easy for me to build a nice patient base since I would retain many of my father's patients (simply because I'm his son). Basically I'm set if I choose GP.

Is the situation with my father too good to pass up for OMS? I mean it would take an extra 4-6 years, and starting a practice (or even finding an OMS to work with) is not an easy thing. But maybe it will pay off in the long run if I decide to specialize.

Assume I like GP and OMS equally (because at this point, I could see myself doing either, but I know that will change as I progress through D-school). I'm not looking for a "Do whatever you like doing the most." response. I'm just looking for other people's opinions on this situation. Anyone faced anything similar?

You need to go to dental school and learn DENTISTRY. I don't care if dad is a dentist, you have very little knowledge of dental school and dentistry. My father is an orthodontist and I knew very little of his life and training until I got to school. I am a little irked by pre-dents who already know they are going to specialize before going to school. You guys don't know much at all. How do you know the scope of practice and training if you don't know the basics. OMFS and whatever are specialties of DENTISTRY so you have to learn all that GP stuff regardless. I will give you credit for your enthusiasm and initiative, but come find me in three years when you are applying to PASS and Match for your specialty.

 

[aphistis]

You need to go to dental school and learn DENTISTRY. I don't care if dad is a dentist, you have very little knowledge of dental school and dentistry. My father is an orthodontist and I knew very little of his life and training until I got to school. I am a little irked by pre-dents who already know they are going to specialize before going to school. You guys don't know much at all. How do you know the scope of practice and training if you don't know the basics. OMFS and whatever are specialties of DENTISTRY so you have to learn all that GP stuff regardless. I will give you credit for your enthusiasm and initiative, but come find me in three years when you are applying to PASS and Match for your specialty.

This is a great post.

 

[OceanDMD]

Stay away from the family business unless he is selling and leaving in a short period of time. No matter what the circumstances, dealing with family in a business like this can be trouble.

 

[Lesley]

This is a great post.

Yes, it is an excellent post.

 

[Lesley]

Well, my boss who is a full scope OMFS HATES cutting teeth as he likes to say. He knew half way through his clinical training that he didn't want to be a general dentist. His father was a dentist and he had heavy exposure...yet he had no idea he would hate the actual work dentists do.

Now he loves OMFS...it's very different and most of the time less precise than GP and that matches him well.

I think you should be fortunate to be in that position. I'd just enter dental school with full steam to make sure you get those grades you need to specialize if you want. That's what I'm gonna do. If I graduate near the top of my class and do GP...o well, at least I had the option to pursue further training.

It would be EXTREMELY tempting to walk straight out of dschool into my father's practice if I could. Best of luck making that decision...that's a tough one!!

Where are you headed to school by the way?

Also, an excellent post.

 

[aggie-master]

I have no advice to offer but I just wanted to say that your DAT scores are allsome.

 

[Typo]

You need to go to dental school and learn DENTISTRY. I don't care if dad is a dentist, you have very little knowledge of dental school and dentistry. My father is an orthodontist and I knew very little of his life and training until I got to school. I am a little irked by pre-dents who already know they are going to specialize before going to school. You guys don't know much at all. How do you know the scope of practice and training if you don't know the basics. OMFS and whatever are specialties of DENTISTRY so you have to learn all that GP stuff regardless. I will give you credit for your enthusiasm and initiative, but come find me in three years when you are applying to PASS and Match for your specialty.

I disagree. While it is admirable to say that you should go to dental school primarily to become a good GP first, some specialties are just too competitive to make this the best way to get in. OMFS and ortho are two good examples. It's far more motivating to excel in dental school when you have a definite, concrete goal from the start - "I want to be an oral surgeon, and here is how I am going to do it" or, "I want to be an orthodontist, and here is how I am going to do it," than it is to say, "I'm going to focus on becoming a great dentist, and I'll just keep my options open and see what interests me." Don't get me wrong - I'm NOT saying there's something wrong with this approach, but it is simply far easier to attain a concrete goal as mentioned above, and to imagine yourself in that specialty, than to say, "I'm keeping my options open."

If you don't come in trying to excel from the start in order to achieve the specialty you desire, it's far more likely that you'll get run over by those who do want it from the start. Again, you can still excel without a definite specialty in mind, but if you've got one, it'll be easier to make it through those 3 years until PASS and Match and remain competitive. Besides, many people have spent tons of hours shadowing various specialties, and I think it's fair to say that they might have a good idea of what they want.

As for orthodontics, I think you said it best yourself: "My father is an orthodontist and I knew very little of his life and training until I got to school." This is exactly why you have so many predents who want to be orthodontists when they start out in dental school. Kids go and get their teeth straightened, are intrigued by what the orthodontist does, and then they want to be an orthodontist. When you're a kid like that, you don't say, "I'm going to go to dental school to become a dentist, and THEN I'm gonna become an orthodontist."

I'm definitely opposed to the goofballs who will say, "JUST a GP," but I also don't agree with poo-pooing those who want to specialize from the start. Poo-pooing their motivation for wanting to specialize, now that's another story . . .

 

[toothdr84]

I disagree. While it is admirable to say that you should go to dental school primarily to become a good GP first, some specialties are just too competitive to make this the best way to get in. OMFS and ortho are two good examples. It's far more motivating to excel in dental school when you have a definite, concrete goal from the start - "I want to be an oral surgeon, and here is how I am going to do it" or, "I want to be an orthodontist, and here is how I am going to do it," than it is to say, "I'm going to focus on becoming a great dentist, and I'll just keep my options open and see what interests me." Don't get me wrong - I'm NOT saying there's something wrong with this approach, but it is simply far easier to attain a concrete goal as mentioned above, and to imagine yourself in that specialty, than to say, "I'm keeping my options open."

If you don't come in trying to excel from the start in order to achieve the specialty you desire, it's far more likely that you'll get run over by those who do want it from the start. Again, you can still excel without a definite specialty in mind, but if you've got one, it'll be easier to make it through those 3 years until PASS and Match and remain competitive. Besides, many people have spent tons of hours shadowing various specialties, and I think it's fair to say that they might have a good idea of what they want.

As for orthodontics, I think you said it best yourself: "My father is an orthodontist and I knew very little of his life and training until I got to school." This is exactly why you have so many predents who want to be orthodontists when they start out in dental school. Kids go and get their teeth straightened, are intrigued by what the orthodontist does, and then they want to be an orthodontist. When you're a kid like that, you don't say, "I'm going to go to dental school to become a dentist, and THEN I'm gonna become an orthodontist."

I'm definitely opposed to the goofballs who will say, "JUST a GP," but I also don't agree with poo-pooing those who want to specialize from the start. Poo-pooing their motivation for wanting to specialize, now that's another story . . .

This is a good post.

It's not impossible for a pre-dent to decide before dental school that they want to specialize. I've spent 200+ hours watching my dad (a GP) and 500+ hours assisting with oral surgeries. I've experienced enough to know what I like better. I'm confident that I have what it takes to get accepted to a specialty program. Knowing that I want to specialize ahead of time is an advantage. I could spend summers working in the OMS department and doing other things to strengthen my application to OMS residencies (research etc.).

That doesn't mean that I'll go through dental school with the attitude, "I don't have to learn this GP stuff because I'm going to be an OMS." Obviously, I need to learn the GP stuff better than my classmates if I want to specialize.

I don't think overachieving pre-dents who are excited about specializing is a problem. I would be more irked about the pre-dents who are excited about 4 more years of college life with the attitude, "All I have to do is pass."

 

[gryffindor]

I don't think overachieving pre-dents who are excited about specializing is a problem. I would be more irked about the pre-dents who are excited about 4 more years of college life with the attitude, "All I have to do is pass."

You in particular should want more of these people in your class. Otherwise you'll be in a class full of gunners and it's going to be even harder to come out on top to keep your options open for OMS. Sure you can think now that you'll work hard, study hard, put in the hours and that you're made of the stuff that will give you a good shot at coming out on top. However, sometimes it'll just come down to 1 questions on a multiple choice exam making that difference between the A and the B in a 6 credit hour class....

 

[xxxTheDonxxx]

sorry for getting off the topic...but what if you're going to a school that's doing the pass and fail grading system, and they have no ranking system? Case is an example. If I want to specialize, how would they look at my grades? are they going to look at the board exams and possibily your research alone?

 

[Squished Rat]

sorry for getting off the topic...but what if you're going to a school that's doing the pass and fail grading system, and they have no ranking system? Case is an example. If I want to specialize, how would they look at my grades? are they going to look at the board exams and possibily your research alone?

Many of the P/F schools still keep track of rank based on performance in classes and will provide a rank in the letter from the Dean when applying to specialty programs. i don't know if Case is one of those schools. Otherwise, your board scores are really what is going to be looked at.

 

[Lesley]

I've experienced enough to know what I like better.

This is all you need to know. Go to school do well in everything and, hopefully, you will not only get into a OMFS residency, but get a match you are satisfied with. I know it sounds trite, but you, and only you can know what will make you happy. It takes a little clarity sometimes, but this is true of all things. Best Wishes and Good Luck.

 

[capisce?]

sorry for getting off the topic...but what if you're going to a school that's doing the pass and fail grading system, and they have no ranking system? Case is an example. If I want to specialize, how would they look at my grades? are they going to look at the board exams and possibily your research alone?

It really depends on the program, but some directors won't rank someone as high or offer an interview if there is no rank. My program is an example. That's not to say that people without rank will never get an interview here, but they are much less likely. How to you compare two people with similar board scores and extracurrics if one is in top 10% and the other is unranked? Here it would go to the former.

Regarding this thread...I don't think there is anything wrong with going into school wanting to specialize. I'm not sure why so many people get their panties in such a wad when people post their desire to specialize. The only time it's a bad thing is when they are close minded in dental school and don't fully experience all the various fields.

I worked in a pedo office for 4 years and went to school wanting to get into pedo. While in school, I worked at it from day 1 and got off to a great start. I did so while openly giving everything a shot, knowing in the end I'd probably still want to go the pedo route but leaving the possibility for general open. Sure, there was a chance I'd sit down with a screaming kid and I could hate it. But what situation would you rather be in.....planning from the start to specialize so when the time comes around you have the stats to get in.....or lacking that edge from the start and when you realize you do want to specialize you aren't as competitive? I'd much prefer the 1st situation.

Don't sweat it when people jump on you. Just be open in school to everything, but if you have a feeling you may want to go oral surgery than just bust your hump from day 1.

good luck

 

[shabu2]

This is a good post.

It's not impossible for a pre-dent to decide before dental school that they want to specialize. I've spent 200+ hours watching my dad (a GP) and 500+ hours assisting with oral surgeries. I've experienced enough to know what I like better. I'm confident that I have what it takes to get accepted to a specialty program. Knowing that I want to specialize ahead of time is an advantage. I could spend summers working in the OMS department and doing other things to strengthen my application to OMS residencies (research etc.).

That doesn't mean that I'll go through dental school with the attitude, "I don't have to learn this GP stuff because I'm going to be an OMS." Obviously, I need to learn the GP stuff better than my classmates if I want to specialize.

I don't think overachieving pre-dents who are excited about specializing is a problem. I would be more irked about the pre-dents who are excited about 4 more years of college life with the attitude, "All I have to do is pass."

Like I said before, I admire your enthusiasm and initiative by pre-stating that you want to be an OMFS. But, I still stick to my original statements. You still have no clue to the scope of dentistry. I would like to believe that everyone who enters dental school is prepared to put forth 110% into becoming a proffessional graduate student, but you still have the ones who just get by. If you put hard work and effort into your endeavors, I am sure you will be a qualified candidate for OMFS. I am 6months from graduation, and its a scary thought that there is still so much to learn and experience. You with your 700+hours of dental assisting is nothing to the mountains of info you will have to sponge up in the next four years, and this is nothing compared to the 6yrs of OMFS residency. Gluck in your journey.

 

[Red Falcon]

The truth is that dental school is as easy or hard as you make it. The mounds and mounds of books that you speak of are nothing when taken into context of four years. It's very doable for the average applicant and no prdental should ever fear dental school. Telling a predental that they have "no clue to the scope of dentistry" is not sound advice. That type of approach will already set them up for failure from the beginning.

I've got a bit of sobering news for you. If you are six months from graduation at Columbia and still are fearing what lies ahead, then that school has done a very poor job in preparing you as a dentist. I am comfortable when I walk in on my clinical settings because I believe in my training and diagnostics. Not because I've memorized all the pages in the book or seen it in the clinic. That will only take you as far as the material goes. You must be confident in your abilities.

All that talk of climbing an endless cliff of coursework and splashing cold water on a predental for their 700 observing hours while heaping on your imminent graduation is in very poor taste. I have to say in brutal fashion that I'm glad you aren't in my dental school class. It's people like you that make dental school difficult. Not only do you believe it's impossible but you try to impose that on others as well. Your thoughts on those at the back of your class who "get by" show that you think very little of them. They will soon be your doctoral peers and this is the best you think of them? Wow.

 

[shabu2]

The truth is that dental school is as easy or hard as you make it. The mounds and mounds of books that you speak of are nothing when taken into context of four years. It's very doable for the average applicant and no prdental should ever fear dental school. Telling a predental that they have "no clue to the scope of dentistry" is not sound advice. That type of approach will already set them up for failure from the beginning.

I've got a bit of sobering news for you. If you are six months from graduation at Columbia and still are fearing what lies ahead, then that school has done a very poor job in preparing you as a dentist. I am comfortable when I walk in on my clinical settings because I believe in my training and diagnostics. Not because I've memorized all the pages in the book or seen it in the clinic. That will only take you as far as the material goes. You must be confident in your abilities.

All that talk of climbing an endless cliff of coursework and splashing cold water on a predental for their 700 observing hours while heaping on your imminent graduation is in very poor taste. I have to say in brutal fashion that I'm glad you aren't in my dental school class. It's people like you that make dental school difficult. Not only do you believe it's impossible but you try to impose that on others as well. Your thoughts on those at the back of your class who "get by" show that you think very little of them. They will soon be your doctoral peers and this is the best you think of them? Wow.

Bro, did I sound that harsh? Keep it real for these young ones. Looks like you are kinda new to this Dental SDN thing, but if you had any idea to how many individuals start threads about this, do a search. So many have the wrong heart going in to this. Actually, the OP is one of the few that might actually have an idea and know what s/he is talking about. I don't like to sugar coat things and hold hands in solidarity just because you are in dental school and we are going to be fellow peers. There are a whole lot of people in dental school who shouldn't be there and many more who do it for the wrong reasons. If you think for one moment that everyone in dental school is always putting out 110% you are dreaming. The comments that you make sounds like you are a predent too. BTW, don't read into my posts so much. I am very happy at my school, love my class, am not worried about after graduation, and would come to Columbia again if I had to do all over again. Gluck in your training and I'll ask you again in 4yrs if you still think the way you do.

 

[OceanDMD]

If you think for one moment that everyone in dental school is always putting out 110% you are dreaming.

I personally went through dental school from day one knowing I wanted to practice general dentistry. I love dentistry and the profession. As far as school was concerned, I can tell you it wasn't 110% for me. If you want to specialiaze, you need to make decisions early in the game. There is a little thing called RESEARCH that the earlier you start, often the better the outcome/results. A candididate to a specialty program who has a publication or good research experience will provide an edge for entrance to specialty programs. If you are doing general denistry, then you can spend more time tailgaiting for the home football games.

 

[Fuji]

Work your tail off to get the grades and the board scores to specialize. That way, when it comes time to decide, your options will be open and you can make the decision based on what you like most. Who knows, in 3 years you may have found an entirely new path to follow. Whatever you decide, though, it will be better for you to turn down the opportunity to specialize than to not have the option at all.