Changing specialties down the road

[cbudz]

Hi everyone, I was just curious if someone who pursues one specialty can then later on go and change specialties. How does that work exactly? I spoke with one of the orthodontists I work with and he said part of the reason he chose that specialty is that he finds it less physically demanding than endo or OMFS, for example, and wants to be able to still practice if he had some type of physical disability down the road since ortho is a lot more delegative in a way. When I started working as an orthodontic assistant, I thought I would want to specialize in ortho, but I do love the more hands-on and artistic aspects of other specialties such as prosthodontics. I am also considering AEGD/GPR.

I was diagnosed with lupus in 2021, and although I don't have severe joint pain now, RA runs in my mom's side of the family and I do worry that 30 years from now it'll be a bigger issue. There are definitely more reasons I want to pursue certain specialties over others, and I know I still have tons of time to decide, but I was just wondering if there is a possibility to change specialties and how difficult of a process that could be!

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[Boat on the Chesapeake]

You can change specialties but it’s hard to get in one, let alone two. You would need to have a convincing reason for changing specialties but some people do that.

GPR/AEGDis good to do if you’re unsure but it looks like you just got in to dental school? It’ll take awhile to find out what you enjoy doing and what you’re good at.

Getting a few years experience as a general dentist is helpful for going into endo, peds, even perio. It’s not useful for Ortho or oral surgery because they’re so different from general dentistry.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ivy.ch]

Some dude in Salt Lake City became a dual degree DMD/MD oral surgeon, then went back and did Ortho. Kudos to him, but damn, talk about getting a late start. You can only spend so many years in training before you actually need to get out and make money.

 

[tinman831]

I know quite a few people who are dual trained such as pedo/ortho or pedo/endo. It's definitely possible but a lot of work.

 

[cbudz]

You can change specialties but it’s hard to get in one, let alone two. You would need to have a convincing reason for changing specialties but some people do that.

GPR/AEGDis good to do if you’re unsure but it looks like you just got in to dental school? It’ll take awhile to find out what you enjoy doing and what you’re good at.

Getting a few years experience as a general dentist is helpful for going into endo, peds, even perio. It’s not useful for Ortho or oral surgery because they’re so different from general dentistry.

Hope that helps.

If I did a GPR/AEGD and then went on to do pros or perio, would I technically be able to open a practice that offers both types of services, or would I have to go with whatever is more recent? I did just get accepted so I’m trying to figure out long-term what I should do, but I definitely have a long while before a decision needs to be made!

 

[SirBrotherJam]

Some dude in Salt Lake City became a dual degree DMD/MD oral surgeon, then went back and did Ortho. Kudos to him, but damn, talk about getting a late start. You can only spend so many years in training before you actually need to get out and make money.

A guy at my school has a DMD, MD(4-year program after dental), peds trained, and anesthesia trained. Basically, he sedates and treats kids. Redefines the term gunner...

 

[yappy]

If I did a GPR/AEGD and then went on to do pros or perio, would I technically be able to open a practice that offers both types of services, or would I have to go with whatever is more recent? I did just get accepted so I’m trying to figure out long-term what I should do, but I definitely have a long while before a decision needs to be made!

If you’re like most people you will not specialize. If you decide to specialize, I would just do the specialty that you’re most passionate about. Either way, get solid disability insurance to cover yourself in case you can no longer practice. From there you can work in industry, education, or another field all together.
There are also fields like oral medicine/path/ or radiology that are not physical at all, but it appears most employment is limited to education.

 

[emma_m]

It is important to prioritize your health. There are many career choices that are not hard on your body. As previously mentioned, you could check oral medicine, pathology, radiology. Oro-facial pain is very interesting and the newest specialty. Ortho would be amazing if you can get into a program. You can also choose an academic career, maybe focus more on administrative positions. I wish you all the best!

 

[DiscoverWeakly]

At my school we have two residents who are back for their 2nd specialty. A first year prosth resident who had already trained and worked as a periodontist, and a 2nd year perio resident who had already trained and worked as a prosthodontist.

So it is definitely possible. In talking with both of them, they decided to go back to expand their scope of practice and justified it as each specialty working off one another. One of the residents stated, "The first thing you learn in prosth residency is to have a good base in perio. Then the first thing you learn in perio is to have a good base with restorative and prosth." Sounds like a little too much school and tuition for me, but to each their own.

 

[AONLINE]

I know 2 guys that are currently doing their 6-year OMFS residency (at a program that grants MD) after finishing their 3-year Pros residency. Both are brilliant.

 

[cbudz]

It is important to prioritize your health. There are many career choices that are not hard on your body. As previously mentioned, you could check oral medicine, pathology, radiology. Oro-facial pain is very interesting and the newest specialty. Ortho would be amazing if you can get into a program. You can also choose an academic career, maybe focus more on administrative positions. I wish you all the best!

After working as an assistant in both a private and more corporate-style ortho practice, I do see myself opening a boutique-style practice and hopefully down the road (30+ years) going into management & open a couple of locations. I don't want to get into corporate, nor do I know anything about practice management in general. This is just me dreaming right now. I've been interested in dental spas or dental practices that are more focused on cosmetic/elective procedures, so maybe something that offers that as well as hiring an orthodontist (or being the orthodontist myself and hiring another specialist). My current job has a GP side of the building and ortho. It's nice because GP refers all patients over to us. Thank you for the advice!

 

[cbudz]

I know 2 guys that are currently doing their 6-year OMFS residency (at a program that grants MD) after finishing their 3-year Pros residency. Both are brilliant.

Wow! 9 years of schooling after completing 4 years of dental school! Everyone has a different path to their end goal, I suppose! As for myself, it took me 6 years to finish my undergraduate degree as I battled my health problems and academics. I then did a 1-year post-bacc to strengthen my science GPA. 7 years total so far for me, what's another 13!?

 

[Saddleshoes]

I was diagnosed with lupus in 2021, and although I don't have severe joint pain now, RA runs in my mom's side of the family and I do worry that 30 years from now it'll be a bigger issue. There are definitely more reasons I want to pursue certain specialties over others, and I know I still have tons of time to decide, but I was just wondering if there is a possibility to change specialties and how difficult of a process that could be!

Lupus can run many different courses. However, one MUST plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I would strongly suggest that you get into a position to make money and gain professional experience as soon as possible. Should RA end your clinical practice early you could shift easily shift over to the management side of the house.

The worst possible outcome would be for you to spend 3-5 extra years in specialty training and then have your lupus flair up. You would be so screwed, just as you enter the working world and NOT be able to use your specialty training. At which point you would have maximum debt and minimum experience.

 

[cbudz]

Lupus can run many different courses. However, one MUST plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I would strongly suggest that you get into a position to make money and gain professional experience as soon as possible. Should RA end your clinical practice early you could shift easily shift over to the management side of the house.

The worst possible outcome would be for you to spend 3-5 extra years in specialty training and then have your lupus flair up. You would be so screwed, just as you enter the working world and NOT be able to use your specialty training. At which point you would have maximum debt and minimum experience.

At this moment in time it primarily affects my skin as I have the classic malar rash representation. I do occasionally get random joint pain whether its my wrist, elbow, ankle, or even a finger. Not correlated to overuse of a joint, though. I do still agree with you! My heart is leaning towards cosmetic dentistry which luckily does not have a certain specialty training requirement, although I would love to pursue continuing education throughout my career. How would I go about obtaining credentials for management? Would I have to obtain a business degree or are there some courses you may know of that I can start looking into and maybe do on the side? I would love to gain that knowledge so I may pursue that avenue down the line should I no longer be able to work

 

[todentornottodent]

I know 2 guys that are currently doing their 6-year OMFS residency (at a program that grants MD) after finishing their 3-year Pros residency. Both are brilliant.

what's their plan with that?

 

[Faefly]

A guy at my school has a DMD, MD(4-year program after dental), peds trained, and anesthesia trained. Basically, he sedates and treats kids. Redefines the term gunner...

I would call him an ambitious hardworker instead.

 

[PerioDont]

Are you in dental school yet?

You may find that you do not want to spend much longer in school after that anyways...

 

[cbudz]

Are you in dental school yet?

You may find that you do not want to spend much longer in school after that anyways...

I just got accepted to UConn and will be starting in August. You have a great point. I'm already 25, and while that's not old by any means it's definitely a later start than a "traditional" applicant (although I know plenty of dental students over 30 and even beyond that). Nevertheless, at some point I'm going to want to get started on my actual career!

 

[PerioDont]

I just got accepted to UConn and will be starting in August. You have a great point. I'm already 25, and while that's not old by any means it's definitely a later start than a "traditional" applicant (although I know plenty of dental students over 30 and even beyond that). Nevertheless, at some point I'm going to want to get started on my actual career!

My personal thoughts are to do the best you can in dental school to give yourself the option to specialize if you want to later on, and if not you will still end up as a good general dentist. best wishes to you in your journey

 

[juniordentist]

I'm 25 and in my 2nd year of residency. I honestly could not imagine being older and still in training but maybe that's just my personal life perspective.

My personal thoughts are to do the best you can in dental school to give yourself the option to specialize if you want to later on, and if not you will still end up as a good general dentist. best wishes to you in your journey

This comment is just a flex. 25 and second year of a specialty is an amazing effort, you shouldn't discourage someone else not at your level because very few people will be close to your age and 2nd yr of their specialty

 

[Faefly]

People can specialize at any age if they want and physically/mentally/financially able to.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I remember my Ethics professor would say the following:
If you have a dream and you want to be something but you are afraid you are old now, in 5 yrs you'll be older but with two paths.
Either you have achieved your dream or you stayed the same person still dreaming without achieving it. In either case you are older 5 yrs than your former self.

 

[charlestweed]

Unlike medicine, many dental specialty programs charge $$$....a lot of $$$ if you attend schools like NYU, USC, Tufts, Boston etc. The cheaper ones are super hard to get in because those spots are usually taken by applicants with good stats. Because of this, dental specialists usually have higher student loan debts than the general dentists. Having a specialty certificate doesn’t guarantee that you will make more (to pay back higher debt). Your success as a specialist depends on how good you are communicating with the referring GPs. If you hate going to door to door to meet the GPs, then I don’t think you should specialize.

If you plan to stay single for the rest of your life and don’t plan to have any kids, then I guess you can specialize at any age. Not only kids are expensive to raise…. you will also need to take a lot of time away from work or from school (if you are still in a residency training) so you can be with them and make sure they grow into fine adults.

I’ve met a lot of general dentists at work, who wish they could go back to school to specialize in ortho. They couldn’t because they are the main income earners in the family. Their kids depend on them for financial support. They couldn’t because they didn’t have good enough stats to get in.

I agree with Periodont and Saddleshooes. The sooner you finish school, the better it will be for you. Dave Ramsey usually asked the callers their age on many of his shows. I’ve just turned 51. My body, my health, my willingness to work hard etc are not the same as when I was in my mid 20s. I am glad that I don’t have to worry about work (to pay back the debts) at this age anymore. You can’t work forever.

 

[2TH MVR]

. I’ve just turned 51. My body, my health, my willingness to work hard etc are not the same as when I was in my mid 20s.

Wait till you turn 60. Then the fun begins.

 

[cbudz]

Unlike medicine, many dental specialty programs charge $$$....a lot of $$$ if you attend schools like NYU, USC, Tufts, Boston etc. The cheaper ones are super hard to get in because those spots are usually taken by applicants with good stats. Because of this, dental specialists usually have higher student loan debts than the general dentists. Having a specialty certificate doesn’t guarantee that you will make more (to pay back higher debt). Your success as a specialist depends on how good you are communicating with the referring GPs. If you hate going to door to door to meet the GPs, then I don’t think you should specialize.

If you plan to stay single for the rest of your life and don’t plan to have any kids, then I guess you can specialize at any age. Not only kids are expensive to raise…. you will also need to take a lot of time away from work or from school (if you are still in a residency training) so you can be with them and make sure they grow into fine adults.

I’ve met a lot of general dentists at work, who wish they could go back to school to specialize in ortho. They couldn’t because they are the main income earners in the family. Their kids depend on them for financial support. They couldn’t because they didn’t have good enough stats to get in.

I agree with Periodont and Saddleshooes. The sooner you finish school, the better it will be for you. Dave Ramsey usually asked the callers their age on many of his shows. I’ve just turned 51. My body, my health, my willingness to work hard etc are not the same as when I was in my mid 20s. I am glad that I don’t have to worry about work (to pay back the debts) at this age anymore. You can’t work forever.

I have also heard this when deciding if specializing is the right move. Being able to communicate with lots of GPs who likely already have doctors they prefer to refer patients to is crucial in getting business. I'm grateful I got into my state school that is P/F and is known for higher specialty match rates; that isn't to say I won't have to work hard if I want to gain acceptance to a specialty program, but it's nice knowing I have both paths as options

 

[beakdoc]

People can specialize at any age if they want and physically/mentally/financially able to.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I remember my Ethics professor would say the following:
If you have a dream and you want to be something but you are afraid you are old now, in 5 yrs you'll be older but with two paths.
Either you have achieved your dream or you stayed the same person still dreaming without achieving it. In either case you are older 5 yrs than your former self.

Are there any time limitation regarding how soon after the completion of the DDS degree you can specialize. If you commit to work as GP for NHSC for 4 years, can you specialize after?

 

[redchesus]

Ped+Ortho and Perio+Prosth are the most common dual specialties I've seen... it does mean dedicating a sizable chunk of your working life to being a student/resident though

 

[redchesus]

Are there any time limitation regarding how soon after the completion of the DDS degree you can specialize. If you commit to work as GP for NHSC for 4 years, can you specialize after?

Yes but I think it's maybe harder (except Endo). Many programs are run by academicians and they prefer their residents to still be in the academic realm (i.e. new grads)