PathWant to be an oral surgeon or orthodontist?
No one publishes which dental schools send students into specialties, so we counted. We looked up 619 current residents at 53 programs to see where they went to dental school.
Big schools send the most. Some small ones punch way above their size
Penn had the most oral surgery residents in our count (23) and UNLV the most orthodontic residents (15). Big classes produce more specialists, so also look at residents per 100 graduates (one year's class): there, Harvard leads oral surgery (14 residents from a class of 37) and UNLV leads orthodontics (15 from a class of 80).
Top 15. "Per 100 graduates" compares schools of different sizes. It isn't a match rate.
| PennPA | 23 | 12 | 198 | 17.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| ColumbiaNY | 18 | 6 | 96 | 25.0 | OMS · Ortho |
| HarvardMA | 14 | 4 | 37 | 48.6 | OMS · Ortho |
| Boston UniversityMA | 14 | 0 | 209 | 6.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| NYUNY | 12 | 9 | 397 | 5.3 | OMS · Ortho |
| Tufts UniversityMA | 11 | 2 | 240 | 5.4 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of ConnecticutCT | 10 | 1 | 52 | 21.2 | OMS · Ortho |
| UNCNC | 9 | 8 | 82 | 20.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| UCLACA | 8 | 9 | 113 | 15.0 | OMS · Ortho |
| Texas A&MTX | 8 | 7 | 102 | 14.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| UT San AntonioTX | 8 | 6 | 107 | 13.1 | OMS · Ortho |
| PittPA | 8 | 2 | 85 | 11.8 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of TennesseeTN | 7 | 8 | 105 | 14.3 | OMS · Ortho |
| Marquette UniversityWI | 7 | 5 | 94 | 12.8 | Ortho |
| Stony Brook UniversityNY | 7 | 4 | 47 | 23.4 | Ortho |
| RosemanUT | 7 | 2 | 99 | 9.1 | Ortho |
| Nova SoutheasternFL | 7 | 1 | 152 | 5.3 | OMS · Ortho |
| UICIL | 6 | 9 | 116 | 12.9 | OMS · Ortho |
| MichiganMI | 6 | 8 | 129 | 10.9 | OMS · Ortho |
| UCSFCA | 6 | 8 | 75 | 18.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| FloridaFL | 6 | 4 | 92 | 10.9 | OMS · Ortho |
| UTHealth HoustonTX | 6 | 3 | — | — | OMS · Ortho |
| University of LouisvilleKY | 6 | 2 | 117 | 6.8 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of the PacificCA | 5 | 14 | 171 | 11.1 | Ortho |
| NebraskaNE | 5 | 3 | 58 | 13.8 | OMS · Ortho |
| TouroNY | 5 | 1 | 114 | 5.3 | Ortho |
| Ohio State UniversityOH | 4 | 11 | 121 | 12.4 | OMS · Ortho |
| Case WesternOH | 4 | 9 | 78 | 16.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of IowaIA | 4 | 5 | 88 | 10.2 | OMS · Ortho |
| UMKCMO | 4 | 4 | 104 | 7.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of MarylandMD | 4 | 4 | 128 | 6.3 | OMS · Ortho |
| USCCA | 4 | 3 | 174 | 4.0 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of AlabamaAL | 4 | 3 | 105 | 6.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of KentuckyKY | 4 | 2 | 65 | 9.2 | OMS · Ortho |
| Creighton UniversityNE | 4 | 1 | 110 | 4.5 | — |
| Midwestern ArizonaAZ | 4 | 1 | 142 | 3.5 | — |
| University of MississippiMS | 4 | 1 | 39 | 12.8 | OMS |
| VCUVA | 4 | 1 | 103 | 4.9 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of WashingtonWA | 4 | 0 | 72 | 5.6 | OMS · Ortho |
| OHSUOR | 3 | 4 | 72 | 9.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| Temple UniversityPA | 3 | 4 | 152 | 4.6 | OMS · Ortho |
| Loma Linda UniversityCA | 3 | 1 | 124 | 3.2 | OMS · Ortho |
| MUSCSC | 3 | 1 | 79 | 5.1 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of ColoradoCO | 3 | 1 | 118 | 3.4 | Ortho |
| WesternCA | 3 | 1 | 74 | 5.4 | — |
| UNLVNV | 2 | 15 | 80 | 21.3 | Ortho |
| RutgersNJ | 2 | 4 | 128 | 4.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| University of MinnesotaMN | 2 | 4 | 119 | 5.0 | OMS · Ortho |
| Meharry Medical CollegeTN | 2 | 3 | 61 | 8.2 | OMS |
| LECOMFL | 2 | 2 | 102 | 3.9 | — |
| SIUIL | 2 | 1 | 55 | 5.5 | Ortho |
| Texas TechTX | 2 | 0 | — | — | — |
| ASDOHAZ | 1 | 10 | 75 | 14.7 | Ortho |
| University of UtahUT | 1 | 6 | 49 | 14.3 | — |
| University of OklahomaOK | 1 | 5 | 67 | 9.0 | OMS · Ortho |
| LSULA | 1 | 3 | 78 | 5.1 | OMS · Ortho |
| Indiana UniversityIN | 1 | 2 | 112 | 2.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| Howard UniversityDC | 1 | 1 | 75 | 2.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| University at BuffaloNY | 1 | 1 | 119 | 1.7 | OMS · Ortho |
| ATSU MissouriMO | 1 | 0 | 70 | 1.4 | — |
| Detroit MercyMI | 1 | 0 | 155 | 0.6 | Ortho |
| West Virginia UniversityWV | 1 | 0 | 49 | 2.0 | OMS · Ortho |
| Midwestern IllinoisIL | 0 | 5 | 140 | 3.6 | — |
| Augusta UniversityGA | 0 | 2 | 87 | 2.3 | OMS · Ortho |
| East CarolinaNC | 0 | 1 | 51 | 2.0 | — |
| CNUCA | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0.0 | — |
| University of New EnglandME | 0 | 0 | 65 | 0.0 | — |
| University of Puerto RicoPR | 0 | 0 | 66 | 0.0 | OMS · Ortho |
"Own program" means the dental school or its main hospital partner runs a program in that specialty. Zeros mean we didn't find any, not that none exist. Newer schools are left out.
Orthodontic programs take their own graduates far more often
At the 15 school-run orthodontic programs in our count, 74 of 216 residents (34%) went to dental school at that same school. At 9 school-run oral surgery programs it was 15 of 108 (14%). If orthodontics is the goal, a dental school with its own ortho program is a real edge: the faculty know you, and you can do research and spend time in their clinic.
Orthodontics: residents who went to that school
Oral surgery: residents who went to that school
Only programs run by a dental school. Hospital programs have no "home" dental school.
What this means for you
How we counted. We read the resident lists on oral surgery and orthodontic programs' public websites, and recorded only the dental school and class year, never names.
What it can't tell you. This is a sample of about a fifth of residents, so treat small differences as noise. Analysis: Dr. Charley Levy, Path32.