I’m a dentist and I would NEVER encourage anyone to go into it. And this comes from someone who sincerely loves the science and artistry of dentistry. It’s the people aspect that is soul-crushing. I am lucky to have wonderful employees but if any of them leave my business would be on life support as it is now EXTREMELY difficult to find employees. There is a nationwide hygienist shortage with them demanding more in pay than dentists do working in corporate dental office or even as associates. Patients have gotten more entitled and mean, particularly after Covid. Kids are graduating with $500,000-700,000 of student loan debt. There is no way they can make that worthwhile. PE is the worst thing to happen and it’s getting worse—they have now started their own dental schools that require no admissions tests and they have no clinical areas for them to learn but instead put them in “outreach clinics” which I can only assume are their corporate office where they work on paying patients. It’s completely messed up. And don’t even get me started on dental insurance. It was started in the 50s and the maximum amount has hardly changed at all yet the cost of employees, lab bills, supplies, utilities etc has gone up exponentially. You should google the salaries of insurance CEOs and then for fun compare it what it was pre-Covid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dentists work low hours and their reimbursements are painfully low. Do you see what the insurance pays out for your annual cleaning? So if you're working 4 days a week from 8-4, I'd expect they don't make much more than $150-250k at most. I'd expect maybe even on the low end of that.

The dentists making more have typically gone the PE route, or otherwise are "running a business". They're not really practicing dentists anymore. Or at least that's not the majority of their time. They're making money off dental assistants pushing tooth whitening and other junk, not making money of filling cavities.

That’s why more and more dentists no longer participate with insurance. Our dentist doesn’t take insurance, the kids dentist used to be in network but no longer. When the kids needed wisdom teeth removal I called 3 practices before finding one that was in network etc.

Although I imagine it would be hard to do that right out of dental school, you’d have to get established first.

Even when you pay out of pocket, the fees are closer to what you pay a mental health practitioner, which is another low pay profession (relative to the education and grades required). I pay out of pocket and my hour at the dentist is like $210 or something. It's with the hygienist but my dentist always swings by for 5-10 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get her into oral surgery. EASILY $500k/year out of residency and many making millions.

This is a highly competitive residency, though. Not realistic for most dental school grads.

+ 1

No such thing as “get her into” it.

Anonymous wrote:Get her into oral surgery. EASILY $500k/year out of residency and many making millions.

This is a highly competitive residency, though. Not realistic for most dental school grads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dentists work low hours and their reimbursements are painfully low. Do you see what the insurance pays out for your annual cleaning? So if you're working 4 days a week from 8-4, I'd expect they don't make much more than $150-250k at most. I'd expect maybe even on the low end of that.

The dentists making more have typically gone the PE route, or otherwise are "running a business". They're not really practicing dentists anymore. Or at least that's not the majority of their time. They're making money off dental assistants pushing tooth whitening and other junk, not making money of filling cavities.

+1. When I look at my EOB for a cleaning I have a hard time seeing how they pay the hygienist's salary let alone cover other overhead associated with running a practice.

They're making their money off of things like cosmetic (veneers) and implant dentistry, which are both often off-insurance.

Anonymous wrote:Dentists work low hours and their reimbursements are painfully low. Do you see what the insurance pays out for your annual cleaning? So if you're working 4 days a week from 8-4, I'd expect they don't make much more than $150-250k at most. I'd expect maybe even on the low end of that.

The dentists making more have typically gone the PE route, or otherwise are "running a business". They're not really practicing dentists anymore. Or at least that's not the majority of their time. They're making money off dental assistants pushing tooth whitening and other junk, not making money of filling cavities.

That’s why more and more dentists no longer participate with insurance. Our dentist doesn’t take insurance, the kids dentist used to be in network but no longer. When the kids needed wisdom teeth removal I called 3 practices before finding one that was in network etc.

Although I imagine it would be hard to do that right out of dental school, you’d have to get established first.

Dentistry is an excellent career choice. Lifestyle and work life balance are excellent. Pay is also better than primary care physicians because dental procedures are like50% out of pocket. Primary care physicians are now being shuffled out by PA’s or NP’s. They aren’t happy with the malpractice and insane amount of paperwork they need to complete. Dentistry is way better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of dental practices are being bought up by private equity. And they’re constantly pitching stuff like used car salespeople. The days of the trustworthy neighborhood dentist seem to be over.

Does that mean it’s a good time to be a dentist because you make more money with private equity backing?

What happens to these practices that have PE or VC funding? Do the owners cash out and go buy boats and private jets?

No. They extract as much from their employees as from the patients.

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible to make $1M a year being a dentist? If you start a dental practice chain and get a venture capital investment can you bring in $1M or more a year?

I see dentist on social media that seem to be insanely wealthy.

Yes.

Like doctors some make a lot of money, some don’t. The money isn’t in filling cavities, it’s in running a big successful practice.

Private equity is taking over and the pressure to upsell is huge. Most patients hate being there, and some are downright terrified. Patients can’t afford what they need done. You need to be good at running a business along with being good at dentistry. It can be rough.

That said, for someone who likes science and using their hands and people, it can be a perfect fit. I know someone who was interested in both medicine and fine art sculpture and ended up very happy in dentistry.

Anonymous wrote:Dentists work low hours and their reimbursements are painfully low. Do you see what the insurance pays out for your annual cleaning? So if you're working 4 days a week from 8-4, I'd expect they don't make much more than $150-250k at most. I'd expect maybe even on the low end of that.

The dentists making more have typically gone the PE route, or otherwise are "running a business". They're not really practicing dentists anymore. Or at least that's not the majority of their time. They're making money off dental assistants pushing tooth whitening and other junk, not making money of filling cavities.

+1. When I look at my EOB for a cleaning I have a hard time seeing how they pay the hygienist's salary let alone cover other overhead associated with running a practice.

Why not, if she’s interested in it. Think about the business aspect, though. Does she want to run her own practice or be part of a chain run by others?

Dentists work low hours and their reimbursements are painfully low. Do you see what the insurance pays out for your annual cleaning? So if you're working 4 days a week from 8-4, I'd expect they don't make much more than $150-250k at most. I'd expect maybe even on the low end of that.

The dentists making more have typically gone the PE route, or otherwise are "running a business". They're not really practicing dentists anymore. Or at least that's not the majority of their time. They're making money off dental assistants pushing tooth whitening and other junk, not making money of filling cavities.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an estimate of dentists income generally in this area after 10 years of practice? How does that compare to the income of a primary care physician? Thanks.

I'm also wondering the same thing. When I've looked it up before I was surprised that some website has it pretty low like $150K but I'm not sure how accurate those websites are.

Anonymous wrote:Their suicide rate is very high. Their work hours are good and their malpractice insurance premiums are lower than MDs’. You have to be good with your hands. And have a strong ego to put up with everyone hating to see you.

That's interesting. I wonder why.

I can clearly see my dentists mental health and bed side manner spiraling since they first start practicing.