How much can a Private Dentist Make?

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I was talking to physician today and heard form quite a few people that dentist that have their own clinics can easily make 7 Figures or more. Any one got any more info...

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I was talking to physician today and heard form quite a few people that dentist that have their own clinics can easily make 7 Figures or more. Any one got any more info...

Possible, sure. But easily, absolutely not. If you are talking about a top producing oral surgeon doing groundbreaking surgeries, this is possible. Even a GP who is doing a ton of implants, crown and bridge, etc could possibly break the million dollar plateau. However, this is no way common.
 
Possible, sure. But easily, absolutely not. If you are talking about a top producing oral surgeon doing groundbreaking surgeries, this is possible. Even a GP who is doing a ton of implants, crown and bridge, etc could possibly break the million dollar plateau. However, this is no way common.

Groundbreaking surgeries? You mean like doing 3rds and sedations for 50 hrs a week?
 
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I once came across a dentist who owns a learjet in TX, he probably has a high profile clientele.

Other dentists have other businesses on the side (i.e. real estates, dental labs, CE course programs, dental chains - like the guys who own small smiles, etc). There was this crazy dentist who graduated from Temple many years ago, he started an adult entertainment company, he got a lot of media attention for getting himself into trouble with the law by driving 200mph+ on his lamborghini.

7 figures is rare from dentistry alone, but doable with other things on the side.
 
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I once came across a dentist who owns a learjet in TX, he probably has a high profile clientele.

Other dentists have other businesses on the side (i.e. real estates, dental labs, CE course programs, dental chains - like the guys who own small smiles, etc). There was this crazy dentist who graduated from Temple many years ago, he started an adult entertainment company, he got a lot of media attention for getting himself into trouble with the law by driving 200mph+ on his lamborghini.

7 figures is rare from dentistry alone, but doable with other things on the side.


ok so go to dental school, grad, save up, and get into the porn industry. thats a good 15 yr plan for me :laugh:
 
ok so go to dental school, grad, save up, and get into the porn industry. thats a good 15 yr plan for me :laugh:

Maybe you should do that before dental school, it would make for an interesting interview. Also sitting in a chair all day wreaks havoc on the physique.
 
Last year my wife and I, both dentists in private practice together, made 2 mil gross with a net of 900,000.

This year with the economy being bad we will do about 1.6mil with about 700,000 net.

If you are in the right part of the country and the right time and fast skills with good personality you will do well. We don't high sell and our fees are low $720 pfm. We work our buts off during our 8-5 1 hour lunch 4 days a week.

You can do well if you move to areas short of dentists.
 
Last year my wife and I, both dentists in private practice together, made 2 mil gross with a net of 900,000.

This year with the economy being bad we will do about 1.6mil with about 700,000 net.

If you are in the right part of the country and the right time and fast skills with good personality you will do well. We don't high sell and our fees are low $720 pfm. We work our buts off during our 8-5 1 hour lunch 4 days a week.

You can do well if you move to areas short of dentists.
Wow, you and your wife are tag teaming the industry, sounds like fun!
 
when i was dental assisting about a year ago, the dentist that employed me used to net 600K a year after grossing roughly 7 digits. With 6 operatories and horrendous hours (9am-9pm) who wouldnt? And he's take any insurance. But it took a toll on his body, he was out of commision for over a year due to a stroke from being over worked.
 
My dad works with a partner. Their goal every year is to bring in $3,000,000. My dad gets about $350,000 and his partner gets over $1,000,000. My dad works 3 days a week from 7:30 to 5 and only has one room and one assistant. His partner works 5 days a week, has 3 rooms and 2 full time and 1 part time assistant. They also split income from their 4 hygienists.
 
when i was dental assisting about a year ago, the dentist that employed me used to net 600K a year after grossing roughly 7 digits. With 6 operatories and horrendous hours (9am-9pm) who wouldnt? And he's take any insurance. But it took a toll on his body, he was out of commision for over a year due to a stroke from being over worked.

40% overhead in a million dollar practice is mighty impressive. Almost unbelievable.
 
when i was dental assisting about a year ago, the dentist that employed me used to net 600K a year after grossing roughly 7 digits. With 6 operatories and horrendous hours (9am-9pm) who wouldnt? And he's take any insurance. But it took a toll on his body, he was out of commision for over a year due to a stroke from being over worked.

He must be VNmese or Chinese to be that crazy?
 
when i was dental assisting about a year ago, the dentist that employed me used to net 600K a year after grossing roughly 7 digits. With 6 operatories and horrendous hours (9am-9pm) who wouldnt? And he's take any insurance. But it took a toll on his body, he was out of commision for over a year due to a stroke from being over worked.

that's ridiculous.
 
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He must be VNmese or Chinese to be that crazy?
lol may seem a racist comment for others to read but your post made me laugh because I do have a friend from one of the listed ethnicities who works the similar hours 7am-7pm seven days a week, he nets (after all costs , overhead and all) about 550K after being out of school for only 3 years.
 
40% overhead in a million dollar practice is mighty impressive. Almost unbelievable.

im not to sure about his overhead since i was only working part time, but on my last month working with him the clinic made 75K gross. And I wasnt even included in the bonus. :mad: booooo!!:laugh:
 
Last year my wife and I, both dentists in private practice together, made 2 mil gross with a net of 900,000.

This year with the economy being bad we will do about 1.6mil with about 700,000 net.

If you are in the right part of the country and the right time and fast skills with good personality you will do well. We don't high sell and our fees are low $720 pfm. We work our buts off during our 8-5 1 hour lunch 4 days a week.

You can do well if you move to areas short of dentists.

Those areas are becoming fewer and fewer.
 
lol may seem a racist comment for others to read but your post made me laugh because I do have a friend from one of the listed ethnicities who works the similar hours 7am-7pm seven days a week, he nets (after all costs , overhead and all) about 550K after being out of school for only 3 years.

I am from one of the listed ethnicities and I did used to work 9am-9pm seven days a week everyday, including Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day etc.
 
Please elaborate on that :)
I lived in the mid west for some time, and the area is pretty under served
 
Those areas are becoming fewer and fewer.

If anything, it's the other way around due to the retirement of the baby boomers. There have been a few practices that have closed down in my area due to the unavailability of dentists to take over.
 
If anything, it's the other way around due to the retirement of the baby boomers. There have been a few practices that have closed down in my area due to the unavailability of dentists to take over.

Is this anywhere near Mission Viejo or OC? I'd considered moving there.
 
Is this anywhere near Mission Viejo or OC? I'd considered moving there.

Unfortunately, this isn't true in Southern Cali. More and more dentists are working longer and delaying retirement. I work at a private practice in Mission Viejo and the competition is pretty fierce. With the economy the way it is, things are really tough...and I've been hearing this across the board.

My advice to you is to move to an underserved community because the need is much greater out there.


Cudental
 
a family member of mine is finishing his 4th yr of dental school in Cali right now. he said that Southern Cali has the most dentists to population ratio (dont remember the #)....so it seems that So Cal is overserved, but like others have said there are still underserved areas I believe.
 
The most a private dentist can make is one billion dollars.
 
My dad works with a partner. Their goal every year is to bring in $3,000,000. My dad gets about $350,000 and his partner gets over $1,000,000. My dad works 3 days a week from 7:30 to 5 and only has one room and one assistant. His partner works 5 days a week, has 3 rooms and 2 full time and 1 part time assistant. They also split income from their 4 hygienists.

what kind of dentist is your dad?
 
Last year my wife and I, both dentists in private practice together, made 2 mil gross with a net of 900,000.

This year with the economy being bad we will do about 1.6mil with about 700,000 net.

If you are in the right part of the country and the right time and fast skills with good personality you will do well. We don't high sell and our fees are low $720 pfm. We work our buts off during our 8-5 1 hour lunch 4 days a week.

You can do well if you move to areas short of dentists.

How would you find this type of information? This is something that I have thought about and will definitely take into consideration when the time comes for me to set up shop. Are you pretty much on your own to research, is it luck, or are there statistics out about that?
 
I don't know how you would find the info out other than visiting many states and cities.

I was fortunate enough to visit the west coast areas and knew enough dentists that I found out the west was best and the town I chose just happened to be a fast growing, but I did not expect a 200% growth over 10 years.

From what I am hearing now, Alaska is the new boom due to oil.
 
in today's economy, not much i imagine....good time to be in school
 
From what I am hearing now, Alaska is the new boom due to oil.

Anchorage is very saturated. The Matanuska valley (Wasilla and Palmer) is also pretty saturated. Fairbanks...not sure, but I wouldn't want to live there. Dentists still do well in these areas because they charge a lot more.

Go anywhere else in Alaska and you're in bum-f*** nowhere. Oil won't change much.
 
Forbes put out a top 25 in May. Every specialty in dentistry is #13 or better. Here is the link.

http://www.forbes.com/careers/2007/...on-lead-careers-cx_pm_0604bestjobs_slide.html

How can a magazine with such credibility put out such an inaccurate article. These numbers have no validity, and how do they come up with this. An orthodontist making 160 K, wouldnt that be like 5-7 starts a month. Oral Surgeons 160K, yeah if they do single tooth extractions on medicaid patients 2 days a week.

Just look up job listing and practices for sale, and you will see how off this article is.
 
Every year the government send to my office (and maybe every office) a pretty long and detailed income census form, forcing me by law to fill it out. I'd ignore it but they'd keep resending the forms until I fill it in with any garbage numbers. The Forbes article must be based on these mandatory balogney data. Why can't they just use IRS data, which is so much more accurate?
 
How can a magazine with such credibility put out such an inaccurate article. These numbers have no validity, and how do they come up with this. An orthodontist making 160 K, wouldnt that be like 5-7 starts a month. Oral Surgeons 160K, yeah if they do single tooth extractions on medicaid patients 2 days a week.

Just look up job listing and practices for sale, and you will see how off this article is.

This is a good thing...it's called flying under the radar.
 
Really usefull thread this is with very good information.
 
I was talking to physician today and heard form quite a few people that dentist that have their own clinics can easily make 7 Figures or more. Any one got any more info...

I've been practicing as a dentist for a few years now, and one of my colleagues said something that resonated with me. He said, "you can only produce so much with your hands."

That being said, there is a limit to how much money a general dentist can make by himself (or herself) in a solo practice. A dentist who works quickly and who has a well-trained and efficient staff with expanded duties can realistically produce by himself about $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 worth of dentistry a year. Assuming he has two hygienists working under him, you can bump that number up to $2,000,000. Keep in mind, though, that $2 million is an extraordinarily high number. The average solo practice, last time I checked, is usually between $600k and $800k anually.

Now, keep in mind the following:

1. That $2,000,000 figure is based on practice fees. Obviously, in order to have an unlimited steady supply of patients, the doctor will have to take insurance. That means that he's not actually going to receive every penny that he wishes to charge for his work. Reimbursement in a well-controlled practice is going to be limited to about 70% of the production (defined by the practice's fee schedule). There are indeed some practices that are purely fee-for-service, meaning that if they charge $1000 for a crown, that's what their patients owe them. Such practices are rare, and are becoming more rare as time passes.

2. Overhead. Front desk doesn't produce dentistry. Hygienists. They command a good deal of money...generally about $40k each. Assistants...remember, well-trained assistants also command more money (but they are worth it). A well-trained assistant easily deserves about $14 or $15 per hour, at minimum. And that's just staff. The overhead of a GP's office tends to be high because of all the disposable materials used (lab fees, impression materials, composite restorative materials, cements, etc. etc.). Overhead in a well-run practice that isn't a pig-sty staffed by bumbling idiots is going to run around 40%. Numbers can vary, obviously, but you get the point.

3. Locality and patient pool. If you practice in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, or the D.C. area, your patient pool is going to have more money to spend on the more profitable work typically performed by general dentists (e.g. crown/bridge/cosmetics). If you practice in a more "working class" locality, expect to perform more basic restorative work and extractions (i.e. extractions of erupted teeth, not the lucrative third molar extractions which the typical GP isn't trained to perform).

4. Advertising. If you are the owner of one of those rare practices that provide almost-exclusively cosmetic services, then your income will be way up. Good luck trying to start one of those. Every dentist out there knows how to perform cosmetic dentistry with some degree of competence, and they sure as hell won't refer those rare cases to you or any other dentist who is running a "cosmetics-only" practice.

Ultimately, and realisitcally, a solo practitioner who has a reasonably busy practice and sees a normal distribution of cases (e.g. average amount of restorative, crown/bridge, dentures, surgery, etc.)--in other words, what I'd consider to be a "successful" practice, can make somewhere between $250 to $350K on average.

If you want to make it rich in dentistry, you need to own many offices.
 
This is probably the most realistic assessment I've heard on SDN for some time now. Thanks for your input.



I've been practicing as a dentist for a few years now, and one of my colleagues said something that resonated with me. He said, "you can only produce so much with your hands."

That being said, there is a limit to how much money a general dentist can make by himself (or herself) in a solo practice. A dentist who works quickly and who has a well-trained and efficient staff with expanded duties can realistically produce by himself about $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 worth of dentistry a year. Assuming he has two hygienists working under him, you can bump that number up to $2,000,000. Keep in mind, though, that $2 million is an extraordinarily high number. The average solo practice, last time I checked, is usually between $600k and $800k anually.

Now, keep in mind the following:

1. That $2,000,000 figure is based on practice fees. Obviously, in order to have an unlimited steady supply of patients, the doctor will have to take insurance. That means that he's not actually going to receive every penny that he wishes to charge for his work. Reimbursement in a well-controlled practice is going to be limited to about 70% of the production (defined by the practice's fee schedule). There are indeed some practices that are purely fee-for-service, meaning that if they charge $1000 for a crown, that's what their patients owe them. Such practices are rare, and are becoming more rare as time passes.

2. Overhead. Front desk doesn't produce dentistry. Hygienists. They command a good deal of money...generally about $40k each. Assistants...remember, well-trained assistants also command more money (but they are worth it). A well-trained assistant easily deserves about $14 or $15 per hour, at minimum. And that's just staff. The overhead of a GP's office tends to be high because of all the disposable materials used (lab fees, impression materials, composite restorative materials, cements, etc. etc.). Overhead in a well-run practice that isn't a pig-sty staffed by bumbling idiots is going to run around 40%. Numbers can vary, obviously, but you get the point.

3. Locality and patient pool. If you practice in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, or the D.C. area, your patient pool is going to have more money to spend on the more profitable work typically performed by general dentists (e.g. crown/bridge/cosmetics). If you practice in a more "working class" locality, expect to perform more basic restorative work and extractions (i.e. extractions of erupted teeth, not the lucrative third molar extractions which the typical GP isn't trained to perform).

4. Advertising. If you are the owner of one of those rare practices that provide almost-exclusively cosmetic services, then your income will be way up. Good luck trying to start one of those. Every dentist out there knows how to perform cosmetic dentistry with some degree of competence, and they sure as hell won't refer those rare cases to you or any other dentist who is running a "cosmetics-only" practice.

Ultimately, and realisitcally, a solo practitioner who has a reasonably busy practice and sees a normal distribution of cases (e.g. average amount of restorative, crown/bridge, dentures, surgery, etc.)--in other words, what I'd consider to be a "successful" practice, can make somewhere between $250 to $350K on average.

If you want to make it rich in dentistry, you need to own many offices.
 
lol. My new goal is to make $249,999.
 
A private dentist is taking on NHS rivals, by offering cheap treatment for all. Dental & Health Studio says it can match NHS prices and still make a profit.
And it says it is providing a much needed service for people who may otherwise be tempted to save money by skipping the dentist chair to carry out DIY repairs.
 
You'll never make enough to satisfy greed.
 
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