Oral Surgeon

You perform surgery inside people's mouths, which is exactly as difficult as operating in a dark, wet cave full of teeth. You'll extract wisdom teeth, reconstruct jaws, place dental implants, and treat facial trauma. Most of your patients are either terrified teenagers getting wisdom teeth out or adults who waited way too long to deal with a problem. You'll need steady hands and the patience of a saint.

What you'll actually do

• 01Extract impacted wisdom teeth from anxious patients who Googled 'wisdom tooth horror stories' in the waiting room
• 02Place dental implants with millimeter precision because being off by 2mm means starting over
• 03Administer IV sedation and general anesthesia — you're one of the few dentists trusted to put people fully under
• 04Reconstruct jaws and facial bones after trauma, which is less Grey's Anatomy and more engineering with bone
• 05Review CT scans and 3D imaging to plan surgeries that happen in spaces smaller than a coffee mug
• 06Manage post-op patients who call at midnight because their cheeks are swollen and they're convinced something went wrong