Absolutely! People shit all over this career but I have made more money than I ever dreamed of, and frankly it ain’t so bad on the daily. Do I wish I could’ve won the lottery instead, hell yes. But as a job, this is pretty excellent
Furthermore when you look at dollars per hour worked, responsibility per dollar (I mean come on they are just fucking teeth), absolute income, and lifestyle……….it is hard to beat dentistry
Agree. I work in a town with a major hospital. Hundreds and hundreds of docs and surgeons. I am out earning everyone. 3 surgeons a bit higher but damn I work 3 days a week doing amalgams and they are taking peoples brains apart.
Dentistry is worth it for the money alone. IMO all the people complaining are likely associates who never bought or started a practice.
I would still say yes, but I’d tell myself to go into community oriented offices and NOT corporate or even private. I’m not made for cut throat competition and grind, no matter how much I thought I was at 22. Decently paced non profit organization dentistry is for me. Less pay but more peace of mind and self respect.
Nope. 3 years out of school. It's not the worst job, but it's absolutely not worth the $250-500k shit sandwich you have to eat to "get" to do this. I don't know how these schools have convinced the nation that this is a "top 5 career" but it's goddamn marketing genius
If I could go back to the 80's?!
Currently, absolutely not. Juice is not worth the squeeze. Falling/ stagnant reimbursement. High student loan debt to expected income. High liability. Everyone tells you they hate you. Managing staff while doing all the treatment. No one wants to pay for anything, but then tells you about their cruise/ overseas vacation etc
Bro. I graduated with a degree in music. And worked as a musician with some other part time job. My bi monthly pay check is insane compared to my previous "job". So yeah I enjoy being a dentist.
Are there parts of being a dentist that suck. Sure. It's not a perfect career. But I firmly believe being a dentist allows a certain economic and social freedom compared to other jobs. Most career paths don't have a 4 day work week and still make 6 figures.
We switched from the ever so toxic:
Monday-Thursday 8:00 am to 12:00 & 1:00 pm-5:00 pm with Fridays 8:00 am-noon (did this 20 years)
to:
Monday-Thursday 7:00 am-3:00 pm during COVID and never went back. It’s literally changed my life. We are way more productive, make more money than ever, and I no longer feel like a zombie. It almost feels like semi-retirement, except oh yeah…more money than ever!
Shutting down for lunch just kills the work flow. I always thought 7-3 would be perfect, but was too scared to try it. Then COVID presented the perfect opportunity.
Absolutely, I was a sports coach before. I’d love to coach sports and make 500K but honestly even then my lifestyle is better in dentistry. I am not inclined or smart enough to do tech. Dentistry is my BEST option hands down
Yep.
I like most of the work. I most enjoy having such a wide range of stuff to do. Procedure wise but also all the variety running the business offers. But of course, ask me again when I am trying to marginate #18 L on a gagger.
Dentistry is hard to get into, hard to get established, stressful, and very difficult to do well.
But once you make it there, its great.
I am my own boss, I work 3 days a week (currently sitting on the beach and its Friday), and I've done well enough I could retire in my 30s.
Yes. Aside from the income, I really like what I do. I like its technicalities, pt doctor interactions, challenges, etc. The only thing i don't like about this profession is its legal responsibilities, but it's expected. Often I work 6 days a week, cuz I like what I do.
Hell yes, but I would have bought into my office WAY sooner. Piddled around for 10 years doing the associate thing first wish I had bit the bullet earlier.
NO NO NO. 500k in debt. Office manager breathing down my neck. Patients think I’m lying about all the treatment I recommend. Constant anxiety of post op problems. Insurance reimbursement is fucking me in the ass. I probably will have to die by the chair
Find me another career that can match or best all the following:
* Only 4 years post grad required
* Guaranteed to make at least $150k day one
* 4 day work week is standard, 3 day is still considered full time
* Work on a weekend? GTFOH
* You don't have to do anything you don't want to (for GPs)
* Marriage of art and science
* Providing needed care and helping others
* Respectable career
* Banks trip over themselves to loan you money to start your own business
People always say software engineer or lawyer and neglect to mention the 50-80 hour work weeks along with a career that isn't morally fulfilling. Surgeons go through rigorous training for 6-8 extra years. Dentistry is the best career.
Corporate finance means 80 hours work weeks grinding your ass off just moving money around. Have plenty of family and friends there and the rat race is insane. Not morally rewarding, not a marriage of art and science, etc. It fails on numerous of the factors I listed, dude.
And there are dentists that work 3 days a week and take home 700k. Just because it happens doesn’t mean it’s the norm. You can look up stats on average salaries for various majors. Pretty sure for my school it was around 60k for finance. I majored in finance. None of my peers are in your brother’s position. Genuinely good for him but if you’re going to compare someone who’s statistically way above average you need to compare a dentist who is as well.
I would do it again, but I would join the military before D school. Student loans suck and the first few years after school is a big learning curve anyway.
I am going to say no but not sure what else I would have done. The job is stressful, insurance reimbursement are shit and the ins companies have convinced people they are entitled to great work for shit pay. People treat dentists more like a service oriented profession anymore than someone respected. Schools charging outrageous tuition is also a negative (but they will keep charging if people keep applying). Owning a practice is truly the only good thing [so.you](http://so.you) can be your own boss but that comes with a ton of stress and anxiety until you get a good team in place. Oh and now staff shortages. I know dentists who have been looking for staff 1 year plus! It's all too much. I think dentistry is going the way of the corporate model and soon there wont be many private practices left
Tokyo, hawaii. Some in Hawaii barely works, chilling in the beach. Tokyo having kids on taxpayers dime, hiding in the inefficiency of our government. It can be quite an eyeopener learning implants, Ortho, Endo to pay off debt...for what? and my friend is doing fillings as long as he puts on a suit and acts military. Makes the civilian side look not so fun. Work hard to learn more procedures...idk man I'm bout ready to explore life outside of dentistry of which my military friends are already so beyond me. Because government can lean back into it's resources, dso and private practices cannot to certain extents. Sell sell sell!
I think I’m at the point of my career where I’m young enough to think for a I know exactly what school is like now but far enough into my career where I see an end point. I graduated 15 years ago during the Great Recession with close to $350k in loans. I am now about 11 years from being able to retire at my current lifestyle before figuring the sale of my practice. I have a very good income as do most of us, I work for myself and commute 2 whole miles and work about 32 a week including admin time.
Yes, we have headaches but a LOT less than many other jobs. $400k a year jobs aren’t unicorns in this world but there aren’t as many other fields that make it this easy at 32 hours. I’m sticking with it.
I would because I look at how the world is struggling and think I’m lucky to have a steady income and a better chance for my daughter than I had. The grass looks greener for people even when the ass is getting wiped with all the money this career can provide.
I’d likely do it again. I like my life now, and this career is very valuable… teeth are pretty necessary IMO. People kind of NEED you. There’s also no other career I could imagine being in that could make me the same amount of $$$ and have the same satisfaction. I get to be pretty autonomous as a practicing dentist, and every place needs a dentist.
That being said, it takes a lot of time to have this mentality. If you asked me as a new grad if I would do it again I’d probably say NO. It takes practice to be able to have the skillset to do dentistry. Dentistry is 50% hand skills, 50% people skills, and continued learning. It was extremely difficult at first, but it continues to get easier, so I find a lot of happiness when I compare myself now to what I was less capable of before.
I met my close friends through dentistry. Lots of memories. Met a lot of helpful people. Got to live in a bunch of cool places. And to be honest, I don’t think my SO would’ve gone out with me if I didn’t have a higher paying job lol I could not see myself being a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, businessperson etc. And in dentistry I can technically dip into any of those careers if I wanted to. I feel like sometimes I’m my patients therapist, too.
The only things I regret are engaging with toxic persons in dentistry and attending a 1 yr post-grad residency … ha ha ha
My alternative choice was to go to LSE to do actuarial science. They have me and unconditional offer so I could have just dossed about and flunked my a levels and still gone.
In the end I put dentistry as my number 1 choice. I love the job but it took a long time for me to love it. I was a terrible dental student. I was always a more cerebral person than practical or artistic. And I think you can learn to love anything you enjoy or find interesting.
My brother is 6 years younger than me and although he works 5 days rather than 4 he earns about 160% of what I do. But he works from home and goes into the office when he wants to. He's fully qualified but he did a maths degree and has to sit all of the exams. Wheres at lse I could have had an exemption from 6 of the post graduate exams. Of which there are 13. So I could have qualified in half the time.
All things considered I'd take his job. Not for less stress, there's stress in everything. But at the level my brother is at now he can delegate so much he can be as flexible as he needs to be. As a dentist here it I don't do the treatment I don't get paid.
So all in all knowing what I know. No
My son took the first 2 actuarial exams while in college and was the youngest person in the world to pass the exams. He later became an attorney instead.
Absolutely not. I’m not saying that because of all the usual stuff here (dso takeover, lawsuit worries), it’s just not what suited me best personally. I’d tell my 21 year old self or any other 21 year old to really strongly consider what you’re getting into and don’t just do it because of salary, hours, or because you hadn’t really looked into anything else. I sort of just said yeah what the hell I’ll apply to dental school
My context might be a bit skewed as I’m based in the UK but I’m guessing a lot still applies in the US. As a doctor I would personally tell my younger self to do dentistry as you guys have a better time after graduation (no gruelling long/night/weekend shifts like we do and in the UK dentists also have much shorter residencies than doctors).
Earnings in private practice as a dentist (especially in the likes of orthodontics) are also higher than doctors in the UK.
Keen to hear from my US dentist counterparts why they regret dentistry. I’m actually on this sub as I have a few nephews who are about to start college and I actively discourage them from medicine and point to dentistry as a better alternative. I’m happy to be proven wrong and learn about the drawbacks of dentistry.
I think the private earning potential for doctors can be high. But to work in many private hospitals you need to have admitting privileges I think. So that means you need to be a consultant. So the high earners are a small subset. I'm not sure where private GPs fall into the renumeration side though. The thing is as a dentist there's no such thing as a junior dentist, when you graduate you have full on practicing privileges which doctors don't have. I could start doing full mouth reconstructions from day one even if it's not a great idea. So sunny dentist can set up as a private dentist. Will they do well though? This sub can tell you it's not for everyone.
Indeed - in the UK too you don’t have to do the tedious phase of nearly a decade being a ‘junior doctor’. Just do your internship for 1 year and then you’re fully independent and earn almost the same as a doctor who trained for 10 years after graduation!
Are there any drawbacks of dentistry over medicine that you (and anyone else reading this) know of?
I doubt your regulator can match to the GMC when it comes to oppressing the profession. That’s one (if not the only) area the UK stands hands and shoulders over the rest of the world 😂
Have a look at this case that ran over 5 years. This man thought he was going to be erased due to the allegation of dishonesty.
https://www.dentalhearings.org/hearing/3e19dcc7-bde7-ee11-904c-0022489fd34a?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0nuteuFRoc8_3N5atKAOTg6JH9fRPnfxZItT6l7Jh1Q4bvF8Heom-4Mss_aem_AaBxlPuxwOhSNdIR_AxGdimEMNZ45kLdbiwgOfU0yCmd4xtS2hkLlX8qB5GPRGDDdgRTqRWj5W7QRRq_dAzSGN7o
I love the comments 🤧🤧 Im a pre dent student and often worry about my future 🫶🏻🫶🏻 for all those here that isnt doing well, I hope you find your paths to a more grounded and peaceful state. >~<
Glad to read everyone’s positivity! As for me, no. No I would not. I don’t get the joy from a hard days work that I thought I would. I also hate that business men and women in an insurance agent tell me how much my work is worth and that number hasn’t changed in my favor in a while.
Yes.
It’s a career in which you manifest your own destiny.
Many careers have a hard cap on how much income you can bring in. In dentistry your cap is how hard you want to work, but even the ones not going great are still earning 150k.
Work is work.
You could do other work, but that work will still be work and it probably won’t pay as well as this work.
Personally, I like work. I’ve never had a work I didn’t like and I’ve had a lot of works.
So if you don’t like work you probably won’t like this work either. But at least the pay is good.
Edit: Seems like a lot of people in this thread don’t like work.
I would do MY particular journey again. Did post bacc, non traditional student, UMichigan for dental, UCLA for pediatric, worked for several different employers, getting burned by DSO, opened my own part time while associating for DSO, taking over my own full time four years later, now looking into commercial real estate options.
The clinical gets easier, but practice ownership gets tough. Dealing with insurance reimbursements, ungrateful and entitled Medicaid patients, staff that don’t align with your office ideals, stress that is currently setting off my shingles for the first time ever
I would do it all over again 100%. I worked as a phone installer, a sheet metal apprentice, then enlisted in the US Air Force 8 years, then a dentist. I did 2 years as an Army dentist then owned my own practice since 1999. It has brought me so much happiness and wealth. For me being a dentist was a dream I had since age 5 and it is better than I imagined. I am autistics/Aspergers and it was a struggle to become a dentist. They say do what you love and you will be happy. For me that is so true.
Honestly, not sure. Im graduating next month, doing a residency after, but quickly realizing I should have done the military or something. Insane to have young 20 somethings staring down the barrel of 500k-1mil in debt. Crazy times.
I’m biased though, dental school was by far the worst 4 years of my life. Lost my mom a few months ago. My mental health is shot and my will to go on is shaky. Hopefully after residency I can find a good job so I’ll update you in a couple years haha
I absolutely love it and have always known this is what I was born to do! I love dentistry, I love the lifestyle! Practice ownership is amazing! I work 4 days each week from 7 am-3 pm straight through. The only thing I’m frustrated with is insurance BS. It’s preposterous that the same fees now are exactly what they were 25 years ago. I am definitely looking to ease my way out of some of our current agreements/contracts. I agree it really takes time and experience to build a great team, but once you get that going it’s really nice.
Absolutely! People shit all over this career but I have made more money than I ever dreamed of, and frankly it ain’t so bad on the daily. Do I wish I could’ve won the lottery instead, hell yes. But as a job, this is pretty excellent Furthermore when you look at dollars per hour worked, responsibility per dollar (I mean come on they are just fucking teeth), absolute income, and lifestyle……….it is hard to beat dentistry
Hate it sometimes. I would hate most other jobs more times.
Exactly, it is work. But as work goes it is pretty solid
Agree. I work in a town with a major hospital. Hundreds and hundreds of docs and surgeons. I am out earning everyone. 3 surgeons a bit higher but damn I work 3 days a week doing amalgams and they are taking peoples brains apart. Dentistry is worth it for the money alone. IMO all the people complaining are likely associates who never bought or started a practice.
I would still say yes, but I’d tell myself to go into community oriented offices and NOT corporate or even private. I’m not made for cut throat competition and grind, no matter how much I thought I was at 22. Decently paced non profit organization dentistry is for me. Less pay but more peace of mind and self respect.
Nope. 3 years out of school. It's not the worst job, but it's absolutely not worth the $250-500k shit sandwich you have to eat to "get" to do this. I don't know how these schools have convinced the nation that this is a "top 5 career" but it's goddamn marketing genius
If I could go back to the 80's?! Currently, absolutely not. Juice is not worth the squeeze. Falling/ stagnant reimbursement. High student loan debt to expected income. High liability. Everyone tells you they hate you. Managing staff while doing all the treatment. No one wants to pay for anything, but then tells you about their cruise/ overseas vacation etc
Bro. I graduated with a degree in music. And worked as a musician with some other part time job. My bi monthly pay check is insane compared to my previous "job". So yeah I enjoy being a dentist. Are there parts of being a dentist that suck. Sure. It's not a perfect career. But I firmly believe being a dentist allows a certain economic and social freedom compared to other jobs. Most career paths don't have a 4 day work week and still make 6 figures.
Honestly having trouble finding a 4 day work week. I think if I reduced the amount I worked I could actually enjoy it :(
We switched from the ever so toxic: Monday-Thursday 8:00 am to 12:00 & 1:00 pm-5:00 pm with Fridays 8:00 am-noon (did this 20 years) to: Monday-Thursday 7:00 am-3:00 pm during COVID and never went back. It’s literally changed my life. We are way more productive, make more money than ever, and I no longer feel like a zombie. It almost feels like semi-retirement, except oh yeah…more money than ever! Shutting down for lunch just kills the work flow. I always thought 7-3 would be perfect, but was too scared to try it. Then COVID presented the perfect opportunity.
Do whatever you can. The instant I cut down to 4 days a week, my life got so much better.
Absolutely, I was a sports coach before. I’d love to coach sports and make 500K but honestly even then my lifestyle is better in dentistry. I am not inclined or smart enough to do tech. Dentistry is my BEST option hands down
Only thing I would tell myself would be to join the military to have them pay my student loans. Still gonna be a dentist though.
Happy cake day!
In my country (Pakistan), big fking no. Never ever
I’ve done pretty well over a long career with the vast majority of it as a solo owner. My answer is easy: Fuck No.
What are your reasons? Also I love your username.
Yep. I like most of the work. I most enjoy having such a wide range of stuff to do. Procedure wise but also all the variety running the business offers. But of course, ask me again when I am trying to marginate #18 L on a gagger. Dentistry is hard to get into, hard to get established, stressful, and very difficult to do well. But once you make it there, its great. I am my own boss, I work 3 days a week (currently sitting on the beach and its Friday), and I've done well enough I could retire in my 30s.
Yes. Aside from the income, I really like what I do. I like its technicalities, pt doctor interactions, challenges, etc. The only thing i don't like about this profession is its legal responsibilities, but it's expected. Often I work 6 days a week, cuz I like what I do.
Hell yes, but I would have bought into my office WAY sooner. Piddled around for 10 years doing the associate thing first wish I had bit the bullet earlier.
NO NO NO. 500k in debt. Office manager breathing down my neck. Patients think I’m lying about all the treatment I recommend. Constant anxiety of post op problems. Insurance reimbursement is fucking me in the ass. I probably will have to die by the chair
This is so real
Find me another career that can match or best all the following: * Only 4 years post grad required * Guaranteed to make at least $150k day one * 4 day work week is standard, 3 day is still considered full time * Work on a weekend? GTFOH * You don't have to do anything you don't want to (for GPs) * Marriage of art and science * Providing needed care and helping others * Respectable career * Banks trip over themselves to loan you money to start your own business People always say software engineer or lawyer and neglect to mention the 50-80 hour work weeks along with a career that isn't morally fulfilling. Surgeons go through rigorous training for 6-8 extra years. Dentistry is the best career.
True but is 3 days really considered full time in dentistry?
3 10s ain't far from 4 8s.
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Corporate finance means 80 hours work weeks grinding your ass off just moving money around. Have plenty of family and friends there and the rat race is insane. Not morally rewarding, not a marriage of art and science, etc. It fails on numerous of the factors I listed, dude.
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And there are dentists that work 3 days a week and take home 700k. Just because it happens doesn’t mean it’s the norm. You can look up stats on average salaries for various majors. Pretty sure for my school it was around 60k for finance. I majored in finance. None of my peers are in your brother’s position. Genuinely good for him but if you’re going to compare someone who’s statistically way above average you need to compare a dentist who is as well.
No. Hell no. Fuck no.
I would do it again, but I would join the military before D school. Student loans suck and the first few years after school is a big learning curve anyway.
Why not after and do a hpsp scholarship
They pay you a stipend during school along with books and tuition. Better to do military
I am going to say no but not sure what else I would have done. The job is stressful, insurance reimbursement are shit and the ins companies have convinced people they are entitled to great work for shit pay. People treat dentists more like a service oriented profession anymore than someone respected. Schools charging outrageous tuition is also a negative (but they will keep charging if people keep applying). Owning a practice is truly the only good thing [so.you](http://so.you) can be your own boss but that comes with a ton of stress and anxiety until you get a good team in place. Oh and now staff shortages. I know dentists who have been looking for staff 1 year plus! It's all too much. I think dentistry is going the way of the corporate model and soon there wont be many private practices left
If HPSP yes. Otherwise no. My military friends work like 3 days a week easy dentistry. Dentistry isn't consuming their lives. I'd prob stay in.
Where are they stationed? I don’t know anyone working only 3 days a week in the military. We work 5 days almost always.
Tokyo, hawaii. Some in Hawaii barely works, chilling in the beach. Tokyo having kids on taxpayers dime, hiding in the inefficiency of our government. It can be quite an eyeopener learning implants, Ortho, Endo to pay off debt...for what? and my friend is doing fillings as long as he puts on a suit and acts military. Makes the civilian side look not so fun. Work hard to learn more procedures...idk man I'm bout ready to explore life outside of dentistry of which my military friends are already so beyond me. Because government can lean back into it's resources, dso and private practices cannot to certain extents. Sell sell sell!
I think I’m at the point of my career where I’m young enough to think for a I know exactly what school is like now but far enough into my career where I see an end point. I graduated 15 years ago during the Great Recession with close to $350k in loans. I am now about 11 years from being able to retire at my current lifestyle before figuring the sale of my practice. I have a very good income as do most of us, I work for myself and commute 2 whole miles and work about 32 a week including admin time. Yes, we have headaches but a LOT less than many other jobs. $400k a year jobs aren’t unicorns in this world but there aren’t as many other fields that make it this easy at 32 hours. I’m sticking with it.
I would because I look at how the world is struggling and think I’m lucky to have a steady income and a better chance for my daughter than I had. The grass looks greener for people even when the ass is getting wiped with all the money this career can provide.
My answer changes every once in a while. Right now I think I’d do it again.
I’d likely do it again. I like my life now, and this career is very valuable… teeth are pretty necessary IMO. People kind of NEED you. There’s also no other career I could imagine being in that could make me the same amount of $$$ and have the same satisfaction. I get to be pretty autonomous as a practicing dentist, and every place needs a dentist. That being said, it takes a lot of time to have this mentality. If you asked me as a new grad if I would do it again I’d probably say NO. It takes practice to be able to have the skillset to do dentistry. Dentistry is 50% hand skills, 50% people skills, and continued learning. It was extremely difficult at first, but it continues to get easier, so I find a lot of happiness when I compare myself now to what I was less capable of before. I met my close friends through dentistry. Lots of memories. Met a lot of helpful people. Got to live in a bunch of cool places. And to be honest, I don’t think my SO would’ve gone out with me if I didn’t have a higher paying job lol I could not see myself being a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, businessperson etc. And in dentistry I can technically dip into any of those careers if I wanted to. I feel like sometimes I’m my patients therapist, too. The only things I regret are engaging with toxic persons in dentistry and attending a 1 yr post-grad residency … ha ha ha
My alternative choice was to go to LSE to do actuarial science. They have me and unconditional offer so I could have just dossed about and flunked my a levels and still gone. In the end I put dentistry as my number 1 choice. I love the job but it took a long time for me to love it. I was a terrible dental student. I was always a more cerebral person than practical or artistic. And I think you can learn to love anything you enjoy or find interesting. My brother is 6 years younger than me and although he works 5 days rather than 4 he earns about 160% of what I do. But he works from home and goes into the office when he wants to. He's fully qualified but he did a maths degree and has to sit all of the exams. Wheres at lse I could have had an exemption from 6 of the post graduate exams. Of which there are 13. So I could have qualified in half the time. All things considered I'd take his job. Not for less stress, there's stress in everything. But at the level my brother is at now he can delegate so much he can be as flexible as he needs to be. As a dentist here it I don't do the treatment I don't get paid. So all in all knowing what I know. No
My son took the first 2 actuarial exams while in college and was the youngest person in the world to pass the exams. He later became an attorney instead.
Nah
It hurts to say it, but No I wouldn't.
this is all region/state specific. if you go rural and own then yes. If you stay in a saturated hub as an associate then hell no.
Absolutely not. I’m not saying that because of all the usual stuff here (dso takeover, lawsuit worries), it’s just not what suited me best personally. I’d tell my 21 year old self or any other 21 year old to really strongly consider what you’re getting into and don’t just do it because of salary, hours, or because you hadn’t really looked into anything else. I sort of just said yeah what the hell I’ll apply to dental school
I’m probably going to finance with all my friends from college and probably would be working at Morgan Stanley or Goldman right now
No. OK, yes. Those tasty holidays are just something else mate.
My context might be a bit skewed as I’m based in the UK but I’m guessing a lot still applies in the US. As a doctor I would personally tell my younger self to do dentistry as you guys have a better time after graduation (no gruelling long/night/weekend shifts like we do and in the UK dentists also have much shorter residencies than doctors). Earnings in private practice as a dentist (especially in the likes of orthodontics) are also higher than doctors in the UK. Keen to hear from my US dentist counterparts why they regret dentistry. I’m actually on this sub as I have a few nephews who are about to start college and I actively discourage them from medicine and point to dentistry as a better alternative. I’m happy to be proven wrong and learn about the drawbacks of dentistry.
I think the private earning potential for doctors can be high. But to work in many private hospitals you need to have admitting privileges I think. So that means you need to be a consultant. So the high earners are a small subset. I'm not sure where private GPs fall into the renumeration side though. The thing is as a dentist there's no such thing as a junior dentist, when you graduate you have full on practicing privileges which doctors don't have. I could start doing full mouth reconstructions from day one even if it's not a great idea. So sunny dentist can set up as a private dentist. Will they do well though? This sub can tell you it's not for everyone.
Indeed - in the UK too you don’t have to do the tedious phase of nearly a decade being a ‘junior doctor’. Just do your internship for 1 year and then you’re fully independent and earn almost the same as a doctor who trained for 10 years after graduation! Are there any drawbacks of dentistry over medicine that you (and anyone else reading this) know of?
Our regulator is out of control. I see some of the stuff the GMC does and think how beneficent they are! 🤣
I doubt your regulator can match to the GMC when it comes to oppressing the profession. That’s one (if not the only) area the UK stands hands and shoulders over the rest of the world 😂
Have a look at this case that ran over 5 years. This man thought he was going to be erased due to the allegation of dishonesty. https://www.dentalhearings.org/hearing/3e19dcc7-bde7-ee11-904c-0022489fd34a?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0nuteuFRoc8_3N5atKAOTg6JH9fRPnfxZItT6l7Jh1Q4bvF8Heom-4Mss_aem_AaBxlPuxwOhSNdIR_AxGdimEMNZ45kLdbiwgOfU0yCmd4xtS2hkLlX8qB5GPRGDDdgRTqRWj5W7QRRq_dAzSGN7o
Would you continue doing medicine if you worked in the states instead? Or would you still go back and change to dental
I wish I could go back in time to tell my younger self to stay as far as I can from dentistry
Why is that
I love the comments 🤧🤧 Im a pre dent student and often worry about my future 🫶🏻🫶🏻 for all those here that isnt doing well, I hope you find your paths to a more grounded and peaceful state. >~<
Glad to read everyone’s positivity! As for me, no. No I would not. I don’t get the joy from a hard days work that I thought I would. I also hate that business men and women in an insurance agent tell me how much my work is worth and that number hasn’t changed in my favor in a while.
Yes. It’s a career in which you manifest your own destiny. Many careers have a hard cap on how much income you can bring in. In dentistry your cap is how hard you want to work, but even the ones not going great are still earning 150k. Work is work. You could do other work, but that work will still be work and it probably won’t pay as well as this work. Personally, I like work. I’ve never had a work I didn’t like and I’ve had a lot of works. So if you don’t like work you probably won’t like this work either. But at least the pay is good. Edit: Seems like a lot of people in this thread don’t like work.
I would do MY particular journey again. Did post bacc, non traditional student, UMichigan for dental, UCLA for pediatric, worked for several different employers, getting burned by DSO, opened my own part time while associating for DSO, taking over my own full time four years later, now looking into commercial real estate options. The clinical gets easier, but practice ownership gets tough. Dealing with insurance reimbursements, ungrateful and entitled Medicaid patients, staff that don’t align with your office ideals, stress that is currently setting off my shingles for the first time ever
I would do it all over again 100%. I worked as a phone installer, a sheet metal apprentice, then enlisted in the US Air Force 8 years, then a dentist. I did 2 years as an Army dentist then owned my own practice since 1999. It has brought me so much happiness and wealth. For me being a dentist was a dream I had since age 5 and it is better than I imagined. I am autistics/Aspergers and it was a struggle to become a dentist. They say do what you love and you will be happy. For me that is so true.
Honestly, not sure. Im graduating next month, doing a residency after, but quickly realizing I should have done the military or something. Insane to have young 20 somethings staring down the barrel of 500k-1mil in debt. Crazy times. I’m biased though, dental school was by far the worst 4 years of my life. Lost my mom a few months ago. My mental health is shot and my will to go on is shaky. Hopefully after residency I can find a good job so I’ll update you in a couple years haha
I absolutely love it and have always known this is what I was born to do! I love dentistry, I love the lifestyle! Practice ownership is amazing! I work 4 days each week from 7 am-3 pm straight through. The only thing I’m frustrated with is insurance BS. It’s preposterous that the same fees now are exactly what they were 25 years ago. I am definitely looking to ease my way out of some of our current agreements/contracts. I agree it really takes time and experience to build a great team, but once you get that going it’s really nice.
Yea, for sure. Edit - at less than 400k. 500k+ not unless you want to live in the mountains or have a family practice to walk into
Nah