Married to a pediatrician. He would not recommend it unless you have family money, so you don't have to come out of residency broke and in insane debt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, have been a dentist for 20 years. Enjoy the work most days, good hours, and solid income

You're a dentist, not doctor.

What's dental income these days anyway?

A dentist is a doctor, so yes I am a doctor. I made 425k last year. On pace to do a little more this year.

I bet you have a pretty nice work/life balance compared to most MDs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relative is a dermatologist. Income has dropped through the floor in the last few years; harder and harder to get paid from insurance companies and medicare reimbursement is a joke. He made a fortune in the 90s and is essentially working to keep busy, but his take home after his staff is paid is negligible even though he still sees a lot of patients.

He needs less staff.

He also needs to stop accepting insurance. My derm only accepts cash and Medicare. She started doing this two years ago. I don't know why more drs don't do this.

There are very, very few areas where you will have enough patients willing and able to pay full price up front.

So, only one DMD and one MD have responded. Not much of a sampling. I'm not taking advice from people who have heard doctors say ...

^ they are a doctor of dental medicine. You don't get to decide.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, have been a dentist for 20 years. Enjoy the work most days, good hours, and solid income

You're a dentist, not doctor.

What's dental income these days anyway?

A dentist is a doctor, so yes I am a doctor. I made 425k last year. On pace to do a little more this year.

NP here. No, I would not say a dentist is a doctor. That is like saying a chiropractor is a doctor. Technically, I guess they are, but not with the same kind of training rigor.

Anonymous wrote:I have seen some large multi-doctor practices pop up lately, and I would encourage that. We take our kids to a pediatrician group of over 10 doctors that all work part time. The office staff is full time. The result is that none of the doctors feel overworked, but they still make plenty of money (let's be honest, even 50% of a doctor's salary is good).

Doctors don't make that much money these days, compared to the amount of work and debt, unless they are in certain specialties.

I have seen some large multi-doctor practices pop up lately, and I would encourage that. We take our kids to a pediatrician group of over 10 doctors that all work part time. The office staff is full time. The result is that none of the doctors feel overworked, but they still make plenty of money (let's be honest, even 50% of a doctor's salary is good).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, have been a dentist for 20 years. Enjoy the work most days, good hours, and solid income

You're a dentist, not doctor.

What's dental income these days anyway?

A dentist is a doctor, so yes I am a doctor. I made 425k last year. On pace to do a little more this year.

I'm a doctor and I would recommend it to my kids. I'm surprised so many of you are down on the profession. I had about 9 years where I worked like a dog. And now I have found a great family friendly practice and I make a great income. I also love what I do. I come from a line of docs so maybe my thinking is slightly different.

NP. Does it vary with the specialty?

No, too much work, too many hoops to jump through.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relative is a dermatologist. Income has dropped through the floor in the last few years; harder and harder to get paid from insurance companies and medicare reimbursement is a joke. He made a fortune in the 90s and is essentially working to keep busy, but his take home after his staff is paid is negligible even though he still sees a lot of patients.

He needs less staff.

He also needs to stop accepting insurance. My derm only accepts cash and Medicare. She started doing this two years ago. I don't know why more drs don't do this.

I'm not a doctor, I'm an NP, but I work with a lot of doctors

For younger people who are considering a career in medicine I encourage them to at least consider this route. I enjoy my work on so many levels (mentally challenging, emotionally rewarding--often though not always) and I have a great schedule for what I think is a fair wage. Most MDs would not/could not work for my salary but since I have so little debt I think it's great, and I have a great schedule.

For the doctors with whom I work, I think I'd say it's about 50/50 as far as whether they'd encourage their kids to follow in their footsteps.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, have been a dentist for 20 years. Enjoy the work most days, good hours, and solid income

You're a dentist, not doctor.

What's dental income these days anyway?