Mandeyy:
Bro, i am a UNN dental student. The only problem in dentistry is passing the exam. It's a very hard course. Before i got admission into it, i used to think it's easy and that it's all about pulling teeth. But now that i'm into it, i now know my previous perception of it was wrong. In fact, both medicine and dentistry do the same courses from 1st year to fourth (4th) year before going their separate ways in fifth year. As if that's not enough, 5th yr dental students will thereafter join final yr medical students to do their final yr courses with them which will require them going to clinical posting together with these final year medical students and then write the same exam with them for these courses, despite the fact that dentistry is for the oral and maxillofacial region. Then in final yr, they will focus on their core dental courses.


In Nigeria today, with due respect to medical graduates, it's easier for a dental graduate to get housemanship placement than a medical graduate, cos dental graduates are few in number. Besides, more hospitals now have dental clinics than before.

Dentistry is not all about oral and maxillofacial surgery. There are other dental specialties similar in clinical work like in medicine such as oral and maxillofacial pathology, oral medicine, oral radiology and even oral anaesthesiology. What a medical doctor who is a pathologist does in other parts of human body other than oral and maxillofacial region is what a dental doctor who is an oral pathologist does in the oral and maxillofacial region. It's the same procedures with slight variations, due to the uniqueness of the different parts of the body. Besides, an oral pathologist while in residency training still rotates through general pathology and internal medicine. The same is applicable to an oral radiologist and an oral anaesthetist. The fomer Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Onatolu Odukoya, is a dentist. He's a consultant oral pathologist. Even the current Registrar, MDCN, Dr T.A.B. Sanusi, is a dentist. Besides, it's still the same National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) and West African College of Physicians and Surgeons that both medical and dental doctors pass through before becoming consultants. As of last year, the president of National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) was Professor Ademola Abayomi Olaitan, a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon. The two professions write primaries, do a residency training of about 4-7 years before becoming consultants, have the same privileges and emoluments. It's only the ignorant public who doesn't know much about dentistry and always thinks ignorantly that it's the study of pulling teeth who respects medical doctors more (besides, dentist's respect comes from his/her patients who know a dentist's worth). However, a knowledgeable person knows the two professions are very essential and therefore accords them equal respect.

The ignorant public does not know that oral cancers and other pathologies of the oral and maxillofacial region, other than dental diseases, are diagnosed by dentists specifically oral pathologists, oral radiologists, consultants in oral medicine and oral and maxillofacial surgeons who are all dentists.

Even in private practice in Nigeria, Dentistry is also lucrative. Ignore what the public says about this. On this Nairaland, somebody said he uprooted three teeth for N90,000 in Ilorin apart from consultation and x-ray fees. One of the teeth was impacted and after x-ray, the dentist discovered facial nerve passed near it and can only be surgically extracted by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, otherwise the nerve may get injured in the process. He said he visited some private dental clinics (up to 10) in Ilorin, and each of them was busy while the less busy ones had up to 10 patients. He said he was charged N60,000 in Govt Hospital for the same procedure.

There are still other branches of dentistry such as periodontology, prosthodontics, dental public health, general dental practice (family dentistry), orthodontics, endodontics, and child dental health (paediatric dentistry).

The UNN 2017 dental graduates all got internship placements without delay. So, ignore ignorant public's perception of dentistry. It's not the real picture of dentistry they portray.

For ur info, this link shows the work of a consultant prosthodontist in London. See the link: http://www.wereblog.com/eric-moger-the-man-who-lost-his-face-to-nose-cancer-gets-his-face-back This shows the importance of dentistry especially oral and maxillofacial surgery in Cambodia. See the link: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/nil-mouth-how-cambodia-desperate-oral-surgeons
find out oral surgeon near me now



A colleague said Nigeria BDS holders can only work abroad after a further training unlike MBBS who only writes an exam, because our training in Nigeria is rather crude.

Dental training in Nigeria is not crude; it's the same as medicine. Every profession in different countries has its requirement. That does not mean its training in another country is crude. The only problem with dental training and by extension medical training in Nigeria, is lack of Hi-tech equipment which Western education in developed countries boasts of. Dentistry in America requires a foreign dentist (not just a Nigerian dentist) to come to America, sit for National Board for Dental Education (NBDE) exam, pass it and study for 2 years before acquiring DDS or DMD afterwhich the dental graduate will get a licence to practise.

Also for medicine, you start writing the exam in a foreign country, then pass it, come to America and start residency. It's all different strokes for different folks. Besides, passing the medical exam is still not easy. Let's be contented with where God has put us to bring a positive change to humanity.

thank you for really grate explanation of oral and maxillofacial surgery