How much you will make REALLY depends on a multitude of variables. Are you paid per diem, a % of production, a % of collection, or both? If you work on a % as I have in the past, a lot of it depends on what kind of relationship you have with your patients, and whether or not they feel comfortable enough to go with your recommended treatment plan. Is the practice a drill, fill, and bill type, or is does it have a different focus? Furthermore, are you fast and efficient, or does it take you an hour to do that class II amalgam? What is the scope of your practice skill set? Do you do very little endo, or are you fairly decent at straight forward molar endo? Are you good with extractions? Is your practice philosophy conservative or do you recommend a lot of indirect restorations? Where you decide to job hunt also makes a HUGE difference. For example, southern Cal is a very tight market and since it is a practice owner's market, they have quite a number of potential associates to choose from. The higher quality practices that are less clinic like usually find their associates through word of mouth, where the associate was recommended by a friend/colleague.
The ADA avg is probably a collection of random statistics from practice owners. There will be a bunch of dentists that make less and those that make more that don't even participate in the statistical study. But as an associate, the income bracketing is probably a lot different.
When you get out of school/residency, you can choose several paths. If you elect to try your hand at a 'chop shop', where there is a lot of capitation and where it is primarily HMO driven, be prepared to work fast, way too fast to really control quality. They will pay you a steady per diem and if you work 5 days a week, you can usually make near 100K or a little more annually. But just to keep up with speed and not get fired, there is a good chance that you will develop a lot of bad practice habits just to keep pace, and these habits will no doubtedly become ingrained. I know someone that spent the last year working this type of job, and although he wasn't slow to begin with, he found himself cutting way too many corners and practicing below standard of care because he found everybody else in the office practicing this way. If only I could elaborate on some of the horror stories. Although he thinks he is a super fast stud these days, I certainly wouldn't be caught dead as a patient in his chair. If and when he decides to open or run his own office, these habits will simply be an extension of what he has become.
If you are willing to take less money and let your speed and skills develop progressively under a high quality practice that isn't a mill, you run a better chance of becoming a more highly skilled practioner in the long run. Be it a good mentor or the extra time to learn about and perform a procedure correctly, it can definitely benefit your long term goals to focus on quality not speed. It's an even bigger bonus if you get good at the more lucrative procedures. If you work for a %, you won't feel the need to treat just to produce and you can let your conscience be your guide. If you don't cut that crown prep where a filling would have been fine, your boss won't think you're being lazy since you also didn't get compensated for it. You can take your time, treat only the problems that require the appropriate treatment, and do it the right way. But if you are being paid by the day, you will find yourself doing a lot of procedures where you never even previously saw or treatment planned that patient in the first place. You may not even feel that those procedures are necessary, but you will either end up doing them, or most likely get laid off for trying to develop a sound philosophy and conscience. Doesn't that suck? You are getting paid no matter what, therefore the practice owner will push you to generate revenue. As a % type associate, you will be 'slower' your first few years, especially since MOST of the patients have been coming to the practice for years, and they don't want to switch dentists. So it isn't unrealistic to be making 60-85K a year in the beginning.
So how much you make really depends a lot on what type of practice you land. Also, don't underestimate the area you decide to practice. Arizona and Nevada are said to have excellent opportunities while a place like California is extremely scarce. As far as paying off 200-300k in loans, consolidation or progressive increases in repayments can work wonders for a tight budget. for example, if you have $150k in loans and were to pay it off on a 10 year plan, your payments would be ballpark- $1500. If you consolidate and lock for 30 years, especially at these rates, you can drop your payment to about $600 a month. That should be managable for almost anyone with a pulse that is practicing dentistry. Plus, in 20-30 years, $600 inflated will put an even smaller dent into the cash flow. So don't worry too much about the BIG number of 200-300k. Although it is a burden, it will be managable, as long as you work hard and don't plan on having an extravagant lifestyle too soon after graduation.
Make suree though that everyone's that's taking them on Monday gives themself Sunday afternoon/evening off from studying, you'll be alot fresher come Monday AM and even though you may not think "anything", you'll do fine
