Can dentists work 60-80 hours a week if they want to?

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artvandelay786

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I'm a predent and I will hopefully be starting dental school in the near future. This may sound crazy but I wonder if there is a way to work more than most dentists do when I am starting out.

I know that the average dental graduate starts out at around 100-120K in most places and while this is good, I would like to work maybe double the hours so that I could make more money in my early years.

I will be in a significant amount of debt from dental school and undergraduate loans and want to pay those off as soon as possible. And the way that I see it, I will be relatively young and healthy and able to put in a lot of hours on the job. I also think it would be helpful to work this much because I am sure that I could become more skilled and fluid with the procedures of a general dental practice.

So I want to know: do you know of any dentists that are working lots and lots of hours? And how? I will be working for someone else because I won't be able to afford a practice. And I know most practices are only open from 8-6.

Or is everything I just said not practical..

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If you are planning to establish a practice of your own, you will probably put in that many hours anyway. Starting a business is demanding and time consuming.
 
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True. But I won't be able to afford a practice for a while. Not enough $$$.
 
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I can't think of something standing in your way. Even in smaller towns, there are some practices that are open evenings and weekends. You might try getting a ton of hours at one, or more likely work full time in one practice and then evenings & weekends at the other place.

I mean you wouldn't be an hourly worker anywhere, so it's not likely they'd be worried about paying you overtime, right? I guess.
 
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An Optometrist friend did that to afford buying his own business. He moonlighted for a couple chain places and that paid his living expenses. He worked Saturday afternoon, Sunday, Monday for the chain place. He had his own practice, started small, working Tuesday-Saturday AM, and everything he made there went back into the business to pay off his business loans/school loans. He was debt free in 5 years, expanded his practice and now has 3 other Optometrists that work for him. He now works less than 40 hours/week and gets to spend time with his family. He is still in his early 30's.
 
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Shouldn't you worry about getting into ds before planning your burnout stage?
 
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I hear its very stressful on the body.
 
An Optometrist friend did that to afford buying his own business. He moonlighted for a couple chain places and that paid his living expenses. He worked Saturday afternoon, Sunday, Monday for the chain place. He had his own practice, started small, working Tuesday-Saturday AM, and everything he made there went back into the business to pay off his business loans/school loans. He was debt free in 5 years, expanded his practice and now has 3 other Optometrists that work for him. He now works less than 40 hours/week and gets to spend time with his family. He is still in his early 30's.

This sounds ideal.

Shouldn't you worry about getting into ds before planning your burnout stage?

Haha yeah. I just want to make sure I can pay off my debt in a reasonable amount of time and hopefully buy my own practice relatively early on in my career.

Is it really that bad? I know that lots of surgeons and investment bankers work those types of hours and when you're young, it can't be that bad for you, can it?
 
This sounds ideal.



Haha yeah. I just want to make sure I can pay off my debt in a reasonable amount of time and hopefully buy my own practice relatively early on in my career.Is it really that bad? I know that lots of surgeons and investment bankers work those types of hours and when you're young, it can't be that bad for you, can it?
It may not be wisest thing to do, unless you are looking forward to premature grey hair or are tempted to try some of the esthers of benzoic acid.
 
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It may not be wisest thing to do, unless you are looking forward to premature grey hair or are tempted to try some of the esthers of benzoic acid.

Generally speaking, how fatiguing is the typical 35-40 hour work week? I know that the job is physically demanding and can wear away at your back, but do you ever leave the office feeling like you could do more if you need to? Yes, yes, I know I am young and naive.
 
Generally speaking, how fatiguing is the typical 35-40 hour work week? I know that the job is physically demanding and can wear away at your back, but do you ever leave the office feeling like you could do more if you need to? Yes, yes, I know I am young and naive.

I can't speak from experience, but think of all the medical and dental students who go into 80+ hr/wk residencies after school. There's burnout there, but it's not the norm. Plus, you'd be making 4x as much as residents and have a little more control over your schedule.

The OMS residents I shadowed recently get to the hospital at 6am (at the latest) and leave at 9pm. And they work some weekends. Then again, they don't really have a choice.

You would have a choice---so while I think it's definitely possible, I think you'd get to the "life's too short for this" point very quickly.
 
by the way, out of curiosity, how old are you? Art Vandelay isn't really part of the zeitgeist for most people in the early 20s (although I say that as a 25 year old)
 
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You dont have to rush to pay back your loans right away. Take out a 20 or 30 year repayment plan and slowly pay it back. This way you wont be putting pretty much your entire salary for the 5-10 years straight, living like a miserable bum, to pay it back. With a 30 yr plan youll have plenty in your pocket, then if you know what youre doing, invest that extra money just sitting in the bank. This way youll have a passive income and be making more than just what you earn as a dentist and paying back all or large chunks of your loan will be a less back-breaking endeavor.
 
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paying loans for 20-30 year = *_*
 
paying loans for 20-30 year = *_*
Not sure why that would be a problem, itd be like paying a bill every month. Though if youre ambitious you can dabble in business ventures outside of dentistry and pay it back faster. Id hate having to work like a dog to just give away all my hard earned income to just live like a dog. As far as Im aware, there is no good reason to rush and try to pay back your loans in 5-10 yrs.
 
Not sure why that would be a problem, itd be like paying a bill every month. Though if youre ambitious you can dabble in business ventures outside of dentistry and pay it back faster. Id hate having to work like a dog to just give away all my hard earned income to just live like a dog. As far as Im aware, there is no good reason to rush and try to pay back your loans in 5-10 yrs.

A sizable bill, on top of your practice and home loan. If its a 400k loan, its +$2600 for 30 years or 360 months and over 500k just in interest. It just rubs me the wrong way.
 
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Not sure why that would be a problem, itd be like paying a bill every month. Though if youre ambitious you can dabble in business ventures outside of dentistry and pay it back faster. Id hate having to work like a dog to just give away all my hard earned income to just live like a dog. As far as Im aware, there is no good reason to rush and try to pay back your loans in 5-10 yrs.

A 30 year plan would cost you hundreds of thousands more overall compared to a 10 year plan.

You mentioned investing that money instead of paying down the loans----you'd have to be relatively aggressive and lucky with your investing to make it worthwhile and beat the interest you're losing. And if things outside your control go a little sour, you're screwed.

Would you put your investment account in a race against 350k locked in at 7%? I wouldn't.
 
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I'm a predent and I will hopefully be starting dental school in the near future. This may sound crazy but I wonder if there is a way to work more than most dentists do when I am starting out.

I know that the average dental graduate starts out at around 100-120K in most places and while this is good, I would like to work maybe double the hours so that I could make more money in my early years.

I will be in a significant amount of debt from dental school and undergraduate loans and want to pay those off as soon as possible. And the way that I see it, I will be relatively young and healthy and able to put in a lot of hours on the job. I also think it would be helpful to work this much because I am sure that I could become more skilled and fluid with the procedures of a general dental practice.

So I want to know: do you know of any dentists that are working lots and lots of hours? And how? I will be working for someone else because I won't be able to afford a practice. And I know most practices are only open from 8-6.

Or is everything I just said not practical..

This is kind of a silly question. That is not meant to be mean, but literally you can do anything you want. Im sure some dentists would love to have a kid they could abuse for 80 hrs a week... however, Idk if it would be practical or if you would be the right person for the job (once again no offense, just depends on your abilities)

I know a general dentist who became a partner in his older brother's, best friend's practice his first year out of school (owned 45%). He is the fastest dentist I have ever seen, doesn't take lunch breaks, and has 4 opratories filled at a time. He is truly a machine. His first year out he worked 58 hrs a week for the office he was a partner of, and 13 hrs a week for another practice. Now (7 years later), he still works at least 60 hours a week, or so he says. "Apparently" his first year out of school he made over 500 grand before taxes.

Like every other situation in life, almost anything is possible, but that doesn't mean its the norm or is realistic.
 
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This is kind of a silly question. That is not meant to be mean, but literally you can do anything you want. Im sure some dentists would love to have a kid they could abuse for 80 hrs a week... however, Idk if it would be practical or if you would be the right person for the job (once again no offense, just depends on your abilities)

I know a general dentist who became a partner in his older brother's, best friend's practice his first year out of school (owned 45%). He is the fastest dentist I have ever seen, doesn't take lunch breaks, and has 4 opratories filled at a time. He is truly a machine. His first year out he worked 58 hrs a week for the office he was a partner of, and 13 hrs a week for another practice. Now (7 years later), he still works at least 60 hours a week, or so he says. "Apparently" his first year out of school he made over 500 grand before taxes.

Like every other situation in life, almost anything is possible, but that doesn't mean its the norm or is realistic.

Wow, that is crazy!
 
A sizable bill, on top of your practice and home loan. If its a 400k loan, its +$2600 for 30 years or 360 months and over 500k just in interest. It just rubs me the wrong way.
I am assuming a 10-year repayment plan would be like 4k/month... This is a lot of money even on a 200k/year salary. Professional schools have become too expensive.
 
A 30 year plan would cost you hundreds of thousands more overall compared to a 10 year plan.

You mentioned investing that money instead of paying down the loans----you'd have to be relatively aggressive and lucky with your investing to make it worthwhile and beat the interest you're losing. And if things outside your control go a little sour, you're screwed.

Would you put your investment account in a race against 350k locked in at 7%? I wouldn't.
To further strengthen your point, you have to pay capital gains in your investments. Given the interest rates of current unsubsidized graduate loans, that puts investing behind your loan rates overall.
 
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You dont have to rush to pay back your loans right away. Take out a 20 or 30 year repayment plan and slowly pay it back. This way you wont be putting pretty much your entire salary for the 5-10 years straight, living like a miserable bum, to pay it back. With a 30 yr plan youll have plenty in your pocket, then if you know what youre doing, invest that extra money just sitting in the bank. This way youll have a passive income and be making more than just what you earn as a dentist and paying back all or large chunks of your loan will be a less back-breaking endeavor.
On a 400K loan
10 year interest ~157K
30 year interest ~558K
 
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Back in the day when mortgage rates and investments were getting 15-18% and student loans were 7-8% it made sense to pay minimums on loans. Today when the market and interest rates are about the same, pay down the loans as fast as you can. You would have to run an amortization schedule but taking a 30 year repayment but paying it off on a 10 year schedule might make more sense. It gives you some flexibility on the payments if you need a month here and there to pay taxes or whatever but putting all of the extra against the principal. It also allows you to not pay the excess should market conditions warrant.
 
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this is feasible in a large city or traveling to local places but in a rural area probably unlikely. You have to keep in mind in a population, not everyone will be going to dentist, either out of proper hygiene or ignorance.
 
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My uncle was born in a tiny village in Bolivia, with 8 brothers and sisters (one of them my mother), and poor parents. Dirt road in the middle of the jungle poor. He managed to get into dental school in Argentina. While in dental school, he illegally provided dental care to the poor that lived in villages like his. Once he graduated, he established his own practice and worked close to 80 hours a week. This was 20 years ago. He still works 65+ hours a week, doing almost exclusively implants for cash. He has a 3 story office in one of the biggest cities in Argentina. He was recently featured on a news station in Buenos Aires for being such a respected dentist in the area. In a country with socialized healthcare, where dentists make less than teachers do in the states, he has made a name for himself because of the hard work he put in.

I share this not only because I am proud of him, but because he is, in my opinion, the greatest example I know of paying off for hard work. If you are willing to pull off those hours, you will succeed. And you'll probably retire at 50 from being burnt out.
 
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My uncle was born in a tiny village in Bolivia, with 8 brothers and sisters (one of them my mother), and poor parents. Dirt road in the middle of the jungle poor. He managed to get into dental school in Argentina. While in dental school, he illegally provided dental care to the poor that lived in villages like his. Once he graduated, he established his own practice and worked close to 80 hours a week. This was 20 years ago. He still works 65+ hours a week, doing almost exclusively implants for cash. He has a 3 story office in one of the biggest cities in Argentina. He was recently featured on a news station in Buenos Aires for being such a respected dentist in the area. In a country with socialized healthcare, where dentists make less than teachers do in the states, he has made a name for himself because of the hard work he put in.

I share this not only because I am proud of him, but because he is, in my opinion, the greatest example I know of paying off for hard work. If you are willing to pull off those hours, you will succeed. And you'll probably retire at 50 from being burnt out.
I was born and raised in Argentina and can agree with what you say about socialized healthcare and dental salaries! What is your uncle's name? My dad was a dentist in Buenos Aires and might know him.
 
This is kind of a silly question. That is not meant to be mean, but literally you can do anything you want. Im sure some dentists would love to have a kid they could abuse for 80 hrs a week... however, Idk if it would be practical or if you would be the right person for the job (once again no offense, just depends on your abilities)

I know a general dentist who became a partner in his older brother's, best friend's practice his first year out of school (owned 45%). He is the fastest dentist I have ever seen, doesn't take lunch breaks, and has 4 opratories filled at a time. He is truly a machine. His first year out he worked 58 hrs a week for the office he was a partner of, and 13 hrs a week for another practice. Now (7 years later), he still works at least 60 hours a week, or so he says. "Apparently" his first year out of school he made over 500 grand before taxes.

Like every other situation in life, almost anything is possible, but that doesn't mean its the norm or is realistic.


don't give him a false impression. Now he's gonna think he's gonna be able to pay it off after his 1st year LOL
 
You dont have to rush to pay back your loans right away. Take out a 20 or 30 year repayment plan and slowly pay it back. This way you wont be putting pretty much your entire salary for the 5-10 years straight, living like a miserable bum, to pay it back. With a 30 yr plan youll have plenty in your pocket, then if you know what youre doing, invest that extra money just sitting in the bank. This way youll have a passive income and be making more than just what you earn as a dentist and paying back all or large chunks of your loan will be a less back-breaking endeavor.

take this above statement and do the opposite of it.
 
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