Vanderbilt Oral Surgery

November 2024. I spent several days shadowing at the Vanderbilt Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The pace of the OR is different from general dentistry — more planning, less improvisation, and a much higher standard for communication across the surgical team. I left with a better sense of what draws clinicians to oral surgery and what the training path looks like. It has stayed with me as I think about specialization.