Ortho Gap Year

[rellyonflash]

Hi All, I had a question for the orthodontic folks in the crowd:

I am currently completing an AEGD and planning to apply for Ortho during the 2023-2024 cycle. I’m planning to work for this year so that I can put some money towards my loans before becoming a student once again.

Obviously I’ve given thought to practicing general dentistry for the year, but to be honest it really isn’t for me. The procedures and the stress weigh on me and I have no intention of practicing clinical dentistry a day longer than necessary. For that reason I’ve also given thought to other, non-dental jobs like consulting, data analytics, etc for this year.

If it were to come up, would it be looked on poorly by potential programs that I’m not practicing dentistry in this year? Just curious what everyone’s thoughts are on this from prospective program’s points of view.

Thanks so much for reading and for any advice.

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[charlestweed]

Don’t let the ortho program directors know that you take a year off doing non-dental work. It definitely looks bad. It shows that you don’t take the dental profession seriously. Ortho is a specialized discipline of dentistry. When you are in training at most ortho programs, you have to do all the clinical procedures on your patients….you work like an ortho assistant. It would be problematic if you show no interest in performing these clinical procedures.

Do you have any student loan from your dental school education? What kind of non-dental job that will help you make enough to pay back the student loan?