Why are Match rates so low in dentistry?

[ToothJockey]

Most specialties in dentistry hover around a 50-60% match rate. However in Medicine most specialties have 90%+ match rates, and even the toughest specialties such as Derm/Ortho/Neurosurg all have match rates 75%+.

Med students make it seem as if specializing in Derm is almost impossible, you need a crazy high class rank and crazy high board scores, yet their match rate is so high. In comparison all dental specialties seem tougher.

Am I interpreting these statistics incorrectly? Is there something different with Dental Match process as compared to Medical Match process?

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[C.elegans]

I've thought about this as well, and came up with two explanations

1. Self-selection
I think in medicine, a whole lot of self-selection goes on during school. First, people take Step 1 at the end of second year (or third for some schools) and realize they will never match into Ortho or Derm with their scores unless they publish in Nature or something. Also, unlike dental school where exposure to the different specialties are minimal at most (interacting with specialist faculty, random rotations here and there), medical school curriculum is all about exposing students to the various specialties and subspecialties though clerkships and electives.

As dental students, doing a root canal is the only thing we know about Endo and extracting teeth is all we know about OMFS unless we take our own time to go shadow or go on externships. Med students, on the other hand, aren't naive enough to go for thoracic surgery just because it seems cool or they heard it pays well because they would have done electives or sub-internships in the specialty to see if it is something they can manage. So I think med students who apply to specialties are more realistic about whether they are competitive enough or are good matches to the said specialty, which increases match rates.

2. Dentistry is already a specialty in a sense
Dentistry is a specialty of medicine in some countries, which would make perio and prosth a subspecialty. Subspecialties naturally have fewer spots which makes it more competitive. Frankly, there just isn't a need for as many specialists in dentistry as in medicine.


PS: I forgot to mention, the concept of a GP is almost non-existent in medicine it seems like. Family Medicine doctors and general internists are essentially the GPs of medicine and as you noticed, match rates are 90+% because well... Prob like how match rates for GPRs and AEGDs are extremely high..?

 

[_Potassium]

Ronguer has hit the main points.

In medicine, a high match rate does not mean necessarily indicate that a particular specialty is easy to match into. The % of matched individuals is a tricky number to interpret, and is subject to a variety of factors every year. I personally would not place much emphasis on these numbers, as massive swings from year to year have been recorded.

A consequence of "flying too close to the sun" in medicine is not matching at all. Medical students MUST match into a residency to practice as physician. After completion of residency, the physician is then able to look for medical jobs. This is unlike dentistry, in which dental students still have the option of practicing without a specialty residency.

 

[ToothJockey]

Those are some good points, but I have some counter arguments.

So I think med students who apply to specialties are more realistic about whether they are competitive enough or are good matches to the said specialty, which increases match rates.

If I'm understanding correctly, an applicant is only a part of match when they receive atleast one interview, in both dental and medical match. So even though I agree there is more self selecting going on in medicine, isn't it fair to say that the Match process does some self selecting on its own in dentistry? Because people completely unqualified won't even receive any interviews and therefore won't be part of the match and won't affect the percentages.

Prob like how match rates for GPRs and AEGDs are extremely high..?

Surprisingly, the match rates for GPR and AEGD for 2019 were ~65% and 45% respectively, however there were 100+ unfilled positions for whatever reason for both.

Overall I agree, there is more self selecting in medicine. No one is going to apply Derm with a 225 Step 1. The applicant pool for Derm will typically be top students with 240+ Step scores and of those students 75% will match.
But the same can be said of something like OMFS. No one will apply OMFS if they got <50 on the CBSE, or atleast they most likely won't get any interviews and won't participate in match. There is definitely self selection here as well, but how come the match rate for OMFS is ~50%?
There are more spots for Derm than OMFS too, but both are rather limited in terms of # of spots.

I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around these stats.

 

[setdoc7]

I do not think your interview rationale is correct, as the Match does not track interviews. There are also many dental residencies that do not participate in the Match and are therefore not counted.
I believe the low Match percentage compared to Medicine is a function of fewer positions and an ever increasing number of grads. As was mentioned, dental residency is not required. Medicine is, therefore more positions at hospitals.

 

[ToothJockey]

I do not think your interview rationale is correct, as the Match does not track interviews. There are also many dental residencies that do not participate in the Match and are therefore not counted.
I believe the low Match percentage compared to Medicine is a function of fewer positions and an ever increasing number of grads. As was mentioned, dental residency is not required. Medicine is, therefore more positions at hospitals.

I misspoke about interviews, what I meant was submitting a rank list is the only way you can participate in match, and unless you receive interviews theres no reason to submit a rank list.

I understand that in medicine you need to match into a residency so match rates overall should be in the high 90’s. But what I was wondering was why the match rates for the most competitive residencies are also so high? Because there are limited number of spots for Derm or Ortho yet the match rates are very high.

And in a different way, I’m really asking is it actually harder to match dental specialties than it is to match even the most competitive medical specialty? Contrary to popular belief looking just at the math this seems to be the case.

 

[ab117]

But what I was wondering was why the match rates for the most competitive residencies are also so high?

This I where I’d guess that for the most part med students apply to specialties based at least partially on their step scores. I bet almost all neurosurgery applicants have 240+ Or 250+ scores, people who score 220 only apply to other residencies. There are roughly as many residency slots (slightly less) than applicants, so match rates are ~90% in every specialty. All the filtering happens before applications cause people have an idea where they will and won’t be competitive.

 

[ToothJockey]

This I where I’d guess that for the most part med students apply to specialties based at least partially on their step scores. I bet almost all neurosurgery applicants have 240+ Or 250+ scores, people who score 220 only apply to other residencies. There are roughly as many residency slots (slightly less) than applicants, so match rates are ~90% in every specialty. All the filtering happens before applications cause people have an idea where they will and won’t be competitive.

Gotcha, but can't the same be said for Dental Match? I understand dental residency spots are way way less than number of dental students, since most students go on to be GP's and not specialists. But I would assume dental students self select also, for example if your class rank is around top 50%, then you will most likely apply to Perio(or just be a GP) rather than Orthodontics where you would have pretty much no chance. And then there is OS where you have take the CBSE, so I assume students filter themselves out based on CBSE scores.

I'm not a dental student, I'm just trying to get an understanding.

 

[ab117]

but can't the same be said for Dental Match?

Nope.

I understand dental residency spots are way way less than number of dental students, since most students go on to be GP's and not specialists.

That's it. Spots:Students is almost but not quite 1:1 in med but it's 3 or 4:10 in dental. In medicine, almost every single graduate is competitive somewhere. In dental, spots are limited, and therefore more competitive. Many people who aren't that competitive try anyway, but end up staying a GP when they don't get in, so you end up with 30-60% match rates depending on the specialty. I think that's really all there is to it.

 

[setdoc7]

Also, dentists go in and out of the Match more. They often work right out of school, then apply to some specialty years later. No option to “work “ right out of med school.

 

[ToothJockey]

So I have another brain teaser.

From what I understand, not as much self selection goes on in dentistry and a lot of applicants who do participate in match are not competitive and only get 1 or 2 interviews and end up not matching, as compared to their medical counterparts who probably get 5+ interviews on average because they are applying for a residency they know they will be competitive in.

Now my question is, if you take a dental applicant who is competitive for his residency and receives 8+ interviews, is it reasonable to assume he will have similar match rates as his medical counterpart who also is competitive and receives 8+ interviews?

My theory is that match rates are similar because:
1. Even in the dental match with many more applicants per spot, the noncompetitive applicants will get weeded out by the system (few interviews, not ranking high on any school list)
2. Now that there are only competitive applicants left, the applicant to spot ratio is narrowed, to maybe 4-5 applicants:3 spots. In comparison Derm has an applicant to spot ratio of about 4:3.
3. In dental match, you can afford to shoot your shots higher, because even if you fail to match a competitive residency you can still go practice General Dentistry. However, in medicine if you don't match you have to take an intern year and try to match again. AFAIK there is no way to practice medicine without going through residency. So most applicants tend to shoot their shots at specialties on their level of competitiveness, because they don't want to risk not matching.

 

[ab117]

So I have another brain teaser.

From what I understand, not as much self selection goes on in dentistry and a lot of applicants who do participate in match are not competitive and only get 1 or 2 interviews and end up not matching, as compared to their medical counterparts who probably get 5+ interviews on average because they are applying for a residency they know they will be competitive in.

Now my question is, if you take a dental applicant who is competitive for his residency and receives 8+ interviews, is it reasonable to assume he will have similar match rates as his medical counterpart who also is competitive and receives 8+ interviews?

My theory is that match rates are similar because:
1. Even in the dental match with many more applicants per spot, the noncompetitive applicants will get weeded out by the system (few interviews, not ranking high on any school list)
2. Now that there are only competitive applicants left, the applicant to spot ratio is narrowed, to maybe 4-5 applicants:3 spots. In comparison Derm has an applicant to spot ratio of about 4:3.
3. In dental match, you can afford to shoot your shots higher, because even if you fail to match a competitive residency you can still go practice General Dentistry. However, in medicine if you don't match you have to take an intern year and try to match again. AFAIK there is no way to practice medicine without going through residency. So most applicants tend to shoot their shots at specialties on their level of competitiveness, because they don't want to risk not matching.

I have a figure in a PowerPoint from upperclassmen showing that for OMFS, with 1-4 interviews, 65% match, 5-8 and 91% match, 9-12 and 94.3% match, 13-16 and 98.4% match, and 17+ interviews 100% match. I don’t know the range of years or anything the figure is based off but I have no doubt it was made using accurate stats. It demonstrates the exact principle you just hypothesized. Applicants with even a small handful of interviews approach 90+% match rates just like in medicine.

 

[_Potassium]

Now my question is, if you take a dental applicant who is competitive for his residency and receives 8+ interviews, is it reasonable to assume he will have similar match rates as his medical counterpart who also is competitive and receives 8+ interviews?

Apples to Oranges, IMO. It's too difficult to make sweeping generalizations and come to any meaningful conclusions.

And even if some sort of comparison was able to be made - why would it matter?

 

[ab117]

why would it matter?

Always the most important question haha.