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The Complete Guide to Becoming An Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
The real job, the real pay, the real path — and how to know if you have what it takes before you invest a decade of training.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Actually Do?
Let's strip away the mystery right now. An oral and maxillofacial surgeon — usually just called an OMFS, or "oral surgeon" by patients who can't manage the longer title — is a dentist who has gone back for an additional 4 to 6 years of surgical training. That's after the 4 years of dental school. So by the time someone is doing this job independently, they've spent 12 to 14 years in higher education and hospital training. You need to know that number up front, because it shapes everything else in this book. But what does the job actually look like once you're on the other side of that brick wall called residency?
On a typical clinic day, you'll start early. Most oral surgeons I know are in the office or hospital by 6:30 or 7:00 AM. The first case is usually scheduled for 7:30 or 8:00, and it's often a third molar extraction — that's the clinical term for wisdom teeth removal. You'll see four or five of these most days, sometimes more. It's a procedure that takes 30 to 45 minutes in the hands of an experienced surgeon, but it's not as simple as "pull the tooth." Wisdom teeth are frequently impacted, meaning they're trapped below the gum line, angled sideways, or pushing against the adjacent molar. You're cutting through gum tissue, removing a small amount of bone with a surgical drill, and often sectioning the tooth