Specialty Training in Navy,Army...

[BuckyBoy_DDS]

A dentist I talked to said that in the military the guys that get into specialty programs (OS,endo,ortho) are the ones who have served some time first and have not run away from deployment orders. He also said that when he went in for OS, the previous two things were often more important than board scores..Also, possibly a desire to stay in longer was a good factor in deciding who gets the slots..

I saw the stats and the acceptance stats for OS in the Navy a couple of years back was around 50%.. 16 applied/8 accepted?


Any opinions? Does this sound right? Is it easier to get into than civilian programs? Is the training good?


What about the Army, is it easier to match because they have more slots?


Thanks,

Bucky

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[dentalguy]

A dentist I talked to said that in the military the guys that get into specialty programs (OS,endo,ortho) are the ones who have served some time first and have not run away from deployment orders. He also said that when he went in for OS, the previous two things were often more important than board scores..Also, possibly a desire to stay in longer was a good factor in deciding who gets the slots..

I saw the stats and the acceptance stats for OS in the Navy a couple of years back was around 50%.. 16 applied/8 accepted?


Any opinions? Does this sound right? Is it easier to get into than civilian programs? Is the training good?


What about the Army, is it easier to match because they have more slots?


Thanks,

Bucky

As far as I know, some specialities are being offered to students right out of dental school. I met the commander of the dental corps of the army the other day and he said some specialities such as oral surgery take students right out of dental school. Some apply directly out of dental school for endo and ortho but these tend to be popular and are usually given to some who have served a couple of years as a GP. The army has 173 dental clinics around the world with more than 900 dentists in it. In general it looked like the acceptance rate was about 50% with endo and ortho being less the first year out. I think in general it may be a little easier to get in because the army wants you for longer and will dangle money and residencies in front of you to keep you.

 

[BuckyBoy_DDS]

As far as I know, some specialities are being offered to students right out of dental school. I met the commander of the dental corps of the army the other day and he said some specialities such as oral surgery take students right out of dental school. Some apply directly out of dental school for endo and ortho but these tend to be popular and are usually given to some who have served a couple of years as a GP. The army has 173 dental clinics around the world with more than 900 dentists in it. In general it looked like the acceptance rate was about 50% with endo and ortho being less the first year out. I think in general it may be a little easier to get in because the army wants you for longer and will dangle money and residencies in front of you to keep you.

So would this be comparable in the Navy? Also, what about doing maxillofacial trauma surgery if you wanted to do OMFS in the military?

Are there board scores of those who matched into these specialties?

 

[Dadoh]

So would this be comparable in the Navy? Also, what about doing maxillofacial trauma surgery if you wanted to do OMFS in the military?

Are there board scores of those who matched into these specialties?

I don't know too much about the navy but I have heard from friends in the army dental corps that OMFS don't do many thirds. They do a lot of trauma.

 

[milman]

Is it possible to get a defferal from the army/navy/af to do civilian omfs 4 or 6 year program, if you don't match into military omfs out of dental school? How about working as omfs in the military-can you work abroad and would you have a wide range of procedures?

 

[milman]

Also if you go to dental school at U Pacific(3 yr program), do you owe the military 3 or 4 years?

 

[Dadoh]

milman,
I have heard that at UOP you would only have to payback three years.
I would check with someone from UOP who is doing one.
Also, Army doesn't like to do deferments, I don't think that navy does many if any, but the best bet is in the air force. They do them and have done them in OMFS. I doubt that they would do a 6year. They don't care if you have the MD behind your name they are going to make you do the same stuff anyway.
You would most likely go abroad (deploy) if you were OMFS and you would do more trauma than thirds.

 

[BuckyBoy_DDS]

milman,
I have heard that at UOP you would only have to payback three years.
I would check with someone from UOP who is doing one.
Also, Army doesn't like to do deferments, I don't think that navy does many if any, but the best bet is in the air force. They do them and have done them in OMFS. I doubt that they would do a 6year. They don't care if you have the MD behind your name they are going to make you do the same stuff anyway.
You would most likely go abroad (deploy) if you were OMFS and you would do more trauma than thirds.

Thanks Dadoh, you have given some really great info..

Just a few more questions...


1. I know endo & ortho are the hardest to match in the military and OMFS less competitive.. What about peds and others?


2. Also, I heard that the 2 year AEGD counts as a "specialty" in the military and you get the specialist pay bonus, true?

3. How hard is it to get into a Navy,Army 1 year GPR? I'd want to deploy as much as possible...


Thanks again..

 

[pmoney]

Thanks Dadoh, you have given some really great info..

Just a few more questions...


1. I know endo & ortho are the hardest to match in the military and OMFS less competitive.. What about peds and others?


2. Also, I heard that the 2 year AEGD counts as a "specialty" in the military and you get the specialist pay bonus, true?

3. How hard is it to get into a Navy,Army 1 year GPR? I'd want to deploy as much as possible...


Thanks again..

OMFS is not exactly less competitive per se, but people are getting into all residencies earlier and earlier now, because of the shortage of dentists. The army wants to hang onto you for a while so like the previous poster stated they dangle these in front of you. I know that perio is really easy to get into from conversations I've had with a couple of army dentists.

The 2 year aegd is like "specializing" as a GP. It counts as a specialty. If you want to serve out 20 years and are hoping to make O6 before the end, it is critical to do some "specialty", whatever it is.

The 1 year AEGDs are pretty easy to get into. There are fewer applicants now but the AEGDs are still the same amount available. Plus, they arent included in the payback anymore so Uncle Sam can hold you for an extra year as a trained dentist.