ACOMS Review - Fall 2018 ACOMS Review October 2018 | Page 7

I would recommend to the dental students
interested in the specialty to meet their
OMFS faculty and not only spend time in the
outpatient clinics but to experience the OMFS
life within the hospital and the operating
room environment.
What advice do you have for dental
students and residents who are just
embarking on their careers?
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a wonderful
specialty with a unique opportunity to bridge
the gap between medicine and dentistry. The
ability to care for patients and their families
(both the extremely sick and those who
are healthy) can be highly challenging and
rewarding.
To the residents, make the most of your
training program by reading constantly,
working hard, being prepared, listening
to your patients, getting involved with
research projects, being available, and
acting professionally. Surgery truly is an
apprenticeship—it takes numerous years
and hard work (some would say a grueling
process), but you will be very thankful of your
training the first time you have to perform a
surgery as a board-eligible, independent oral
and maxillofacial surgeon.
I still believe there is a lot of work for us to
do in proving the societal benefit of oral
and maxillofacial surgery. It is only possible
as long as we continue to train great
generations of surgeons year after year.