Psychiatry vs. Dentistry. I am torn between the two.

[peachfuzz34]

Hi All,

I am currently in my Junior year of college, and hope to apply to graduate school this summer. I need help deciding between the 2 careers of psychiatry and dentistry especially since they both require different entrance exams (MCAT/DAT). I have tried to weigh the pros and cons, but the sources online are limited and I am running short on time to gain more shadowing experience.

I am mostly concerned about autonomy and hours. I find psychiatry a fascinating field, but I am not aware of the outlook in private practice, job market etc.

How do the salaries compare between the fields?
Are you happy in your field? Would you change your career if you could go back ?
How will both careers look 10 years from now in terms of stability?
What are the discrepancies in a private practice setting?
What are the differences in lifestyle between the two?

I would really appreciate all your input !

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[st2205]

Better job market for psychiatry. I don't know a whole lot about dentistry, but it does appear, based on what a lot say, that it's somewhat saturated. Of course, that could be more rumor. However, I'd imagine there's not as much flexibility as you're tied to a specific practice and dependent on a lot of equipment that's not very mobile.

Also, just a heads up that in medicine it's not uncommon to have people come out of the woodwork to berate you about having an interest in a specific field without having gone through medical school. Though there's some merit in this, keep in mind that things like dentistry, podiatry, psychology, etc., all require you to make that same decision about what you want to do with your career prior to having gone through dental, podiatry or graduate school, etc. It's important to consider interests (i.e. psychiatry) before going into medical school. The ability to change that decision to something else later down the road is simply a perk. Sure, you may not like psychiatry like how you've envisioned it. However, the same can be said for dentistry, so that argument, which will inevitably come up, is somewhat irrelevant.

That said, I think medicine provides more diversity of choices. Dental gets you through quicker. Job market great for psychiatry. Pathway long, however.

Then there's always the combined MD/DDS or DO/DMD degree that I cannot understand. The program websites also don't explain any benefit or reason to do these programs. But at least there's always that dreamy, ridiculous option. You could become the foremost authority on dental care among the mentally ill. You may even develop a cure for methmouth that doesn't rely on abstinence only.

 

[Frazier]

I am mostly concerned about autonomy and hours.

If you look only through the lenses of raw potential for autonomy and hours, I don't think there is a better provider option in all of healthcare (period) than psychiatry.

No building, no staff, no insurance billings, no expensive equipment/supplies.

You could literally work like an hour a day to cover the minimum necessary overhead expenses (ie room, seats, pen, paper, etc).

Naturally, no one does this, but it exemplifies my point.

 

[Armadillos]

Dentists are going to have a much higher potential salary ceiling with certain types of practices, but that will come along with the drawbacks, headaches and risks of owning a small business with multiple employees.

Hours can be good in many fields, so I would worry more about trying to find something you enjoy doing. I know that is really hard to do from the outside though.

Of all the fields in medicine, what is it that drew you to consider psych?

 

[Red Beard]

Medical school leaves way more options open, if you ultimately decide you just have to work on people's mouths then you can do ENT.

As for dentistry vs. psychiatry, you can make a lot of money in dentistry (cosmetics and orthodontics for example), but seems relatively boring and repetitive, and a lot more overhead/complication to run a private practice.

 

[NontradCA]

The decision should be dentistry v. medicine, not psych, because you'll have to go through med school first.

 

[notdeadyet]

Based on your actual question, peachfuzz, which asks about opportunity and lifestyle, you'd be much better off going dentistry.

I love psychiatry because I love psychiatry. If you took away the passion of treating the mentally ill, it would still be a great job, but not enough to justify the blood, sweat, and tears to get there.

From a purely lifestyle/financial perspective, you're better off with dentistry. But I'd strongly suggest figuring out what you want to do with your life first, then back into what the financial rewards are like rather than the opposite.

 

[Frazier]

Just to expand my earlier post, I agree with the above members 100% in regards to passion and interest in serving the particular patient population.

If you are looking for lifestyle or $$$, psych might not be the best choice.

But if your curiosity purely entailed only the filters you listed in your OP (read: autonomy and hours), then I don't think psych's potential can be beat. Of course, you would be near poverty level with my earlier post. But not BANKRUPT!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

All the autonomy and income in the world won't make psychiatry worth it if you dislike or disdain the mentally ill.
And for the same reason, I'd rather be a barista than a dentist...

 

[Leo Aquarius]

Another way to slice the pie is to ask yourself whether you want your job to revolve around elective procedures, or more mandatory interventions. A good friend of mine is a dentist and the one thing he reminds me of is that his work is largely elective, and to keep his practice very profitable he must convince as many people as he can that they need dental work and/or cleanings. He says sometimes this gets to him and he feels like a salesman.

Psychiatry, on the other hand, (or most medical specialties for that matter) can come to the rescue in very acute situations. I loved being on consult psychiatry helping cardiologists and medicine doctors figure out how to treat delirium, and them turning to my team as the experts there. I love treating acute psychosis and seeing the patient regain a normal thinking process the following day. You can come to the rescue in psychiatry for acute mandatory situations like these.

Something to consider.

 

[skunky386]

A few points that come to mind off the top of my head...

Psychiatry, especially in private practice, is much more of a solo sport, like tennis, if that's your thing. Dentistry is more of a team sport, you tend to work with hygienists and other office personnel, lots of chit-chatting and such in the office.

Every dentist I've ever had has been cheery and well-adjusted. I can't say the same thing about all the psychiatrists I've ever known. How much of this is from personality selection vs. the iatrogenic effect of the job is debatable.

I'd say that dentists in the lay public might garner a little more respect than psychiatrists if that's important to you.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

This is a very important decision and should be based on well researched facts and soul searching. Having said that, apply to medical school, and if you don’t get in, dentistry is an alternative. This is the time honored algorithm of every generation over the last 100 years so why fight it. Medicine so out rocks dentistry, it is so obvious to us we entertain your dilemma only in an effort to be polite. I’m sure my post will upset some happy dentist who will argue that they have full gratification in their work, so let me preemptively say, “Of course you are fulfilled”. It takes only 1.5 oz to fill a shot glass. While it is true that tooth decay is the lion’s share of the human experience, I’m guessing psychiatry embraces some elements of life not found in dentistry.

 

[notdeadyet]

Another way to slice the pie is to ask yourself whether you want your job to revolve around elective procedures, or more mandatory interventions. A good friend of mine is a dentist and the one thing he reminds me of is that his work is largely elective, and to keep his practice very profitable he must convince as many people as he can that they need dental work and/or cleanings. He says sometimes this gets to him and he feels like a salesman.

Psychiatry, on the other hand...

Actually, private practice psychiatry (particularly cash only) runs into exactly the same ethical bind. When a patient comes in with wanting to speak to a psychiatrist, you are financially biased to agree that this will require treatment. Cash only psychiatry is not made up of entirely "mandatory interventions."

Your examples are spot-on about C/L and other areas of psychiatry, but I would argue that private practice (particularly cash only) psychiatry has the same issues as dentistry. I'm sure some psychiatrists would disagree and say they would not do this and are above the bias, but then so would some dentists.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

A few points that come to mind off the top of my head...

Psychiatry, especially in private practice, is much more of a solo sport, like tennis, if that's your thing. Dentistry is more of a team sport, you tend to work with hygienists and other office personnel, lots of chit-chatting and such in the office.
...

Disagree with this distinction-- So much of psychiatry is team-based. Certainly one can "go solo" if so desired, but I find psychiatry very social, especially in the hospital settings.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

Actually, private practice psychiatry (particularly cash only) runs into exactly the same ethical bind. When a patient comes in with wanting to speak to a psychiatrist, you are financially biased to agree that this will require treatment. Cash only psychiatry is not made up of entirely "mandatory interventions."

Your examples are spot-on about C/L and other areas of psychiatry, but I would argue that private practice (particularly cash only) psychiatry has the same issues as dentistry. I'm sure some psychiatrists would disagree and say they would not do this and are above the bias, but then so would some dentists.

I see. So how do psychiatrists avoid this predicament in the solo cash practice setting? If that's even possible...

 

[NotTheBestUSMLE]

I'm just going to give the dentistry side of the argument here, assuming we can safely broaden to "medical school vs dental school."

Most of my best friends here are in the dental school, so I'm intimately familiar with their career outlook and lifestyles.

What I'd say is that if you can get into a very good dental school--one that consistently places their students in non-paid (that is, you don't pay for it) competitive dental residencies, then dentistry can be a great option. The range of specialties in dentistry will certainly be mostly mouth-related, but within the field it varies so much that, if you wanted to, you could go to a 6-year OMFS program and come out MD/DMD and live very similarly to an ENT.

For me, I think dentistry would have been a really cool option. I love doing procedures and working with my hands and that it what dentistry is all about.

The reason I'm likely going into psych is that I love direct patient interaction and talking to people about emotional and cognitive issues (on top of the medical stuff.)

They're disparate fields, "lifestyle" in the abstract excepted.

 

[vistaril]

Obviously in dentistry(even general dentistry) the potential upside in terms of lifestyle and salary is much much much more. Anyone who has ever paid their own dental bills knows how expensive both procedures and routine care is, and they can also do the math and figure out how many chairs are running concurrently. That's one big difference between dentistry and psych- at any given sec the dentist has multiple patients in the chair they are profiting off. Skys the limit really when it comes to compensation for a well run dental practice. Dentists also generate a good deal more respect in most circles than psychiatrists, although on the whole dentists probably get a little less respect compared to most physicians overall.

That said, one big exception I would make is if your not interested in any way in developing a well run profitable practice. If you just want to be on staff somewhere or work for someone else or not be the driving force behind running a successful business, then I would avoid dentistry. Especially general dentistry. because while general dentists can certainly make a ton more than psychiatrists, a general dentist with no business sense or drive who just wants to punch a clock and doesn't want to take ownership of anything will not do nearly as well as the same person who takes the same approach in psych. A new dental grad who signs on with a dental chain to work for someone else in general dentistry will make substantially less(as much as 50% less I believe) than a new psych grad who just wants to work for UHS or whatever.

 

[Shikima]

OP, why not do both be OMFS?

 

[Mad Jack]

Better job market for psychiatry. I don't know a whole lot about dentistry, but it does appear, based on what a lot say, that it's somewhat saturated. Of course, that could be more rumor. However, I'd imagine there's not as much flexibility as you're tied to a specific practice and dependent on a lot of equipment that's not very mobile.

Also, just a heads up that in medicine it's not uncommon to have people come out of the woodwork to berate you about having an interest in a specific field without having gone through medical school. Though there's some merit in this, keep in mind that things like dentistry, podiatry, psychology, etc., all require you to make that same decision about what you want to do with your career prior to having gone through dental, podiatry or graduate school, etc. It's important to consider interests (i.e. psychiatry) before going into medical school. The ability to change that decision to something else later down the road is simply a perk. Sure, you may not like psychiatry like how you've envisioned it. However, the same can be said for dentistry, so that argument, which will inevitably come up, is somewhat irrelevant.

That said, I think medicine provides more diversity of choices. Dental gets you through quicker. Job market great for psychiatry. Pathway long, however.

Then there's always the combined MD/DDS or DO/DMD degree that I cannot understand. The program websites also don't explain any benefit or reason to do these programs. But at least there's always that dreamy, ridiculous option. You could become the foremost authority on dental care among the mentally ill. You may even develop a cure for methmouth that doesn't rely on abstinence only.

It mostly just comes down to having full-scope practice rights as a dental surgeon regardless of the state you're in. Dentist practice acts vary state-to-state, but by having the DMD/MD or DMD/DO, you're guaranteed full practice rights everywhere without worrying about the minutiae of your dental practice act, which can be important in oral surgery for follow up and the like, or if complications arise and your patient requires complex additional care that you would like to be involved in.

 

[vistaril]

As a side note on oral surgeons, I had 2 wisdom teeth removed a couple years ago. The practice was reimbursed like 2450 for the whole thing. It literally took no time at all, and it was such a trivial part of the practices day that it may as well have not have even been scheduled. Just sort of a throwaway/add-in patient(although I did receive excellent care)

Which has me to thinking....some of us will work 2 FULL DAYS to generate that much in collections(some of us will work even more hehe)...whereas a well run oral surgery practice generated that from just one of their rooms in the time it takes to eat a breakfast burrito.

So when thinking about salaries, think about what sort of total collections those well run procedure based dental practices are achieving.....even at 50% or more overhead, that's still an enormous amount of money. Some of those guys make more in 3 weeks than I will all year I bet(take home, not gross or revenue)

 

[NotTheBestUSMLE]

It mostly just comes down to having full-scope practice rights as a dental surgeon regardless of the state you're in. Dentist practice acts vary state-to-state, but by having the DMD/MD or DMD/DO, you're guaranteed full practice rights everywhere without worrying about the minutiae of your dental practice act, which can be important in oral surgery for follow up and the like, or if complications arise and your patient requires complex additional care that you would like to be involved in.

My understanding from friends applying to dental residencies this year is that the MD gives people broader scope in very complex medical settings -- they might end up being the only facial person in a given small-mid size hospital. Helps with admitting privileges. Some people leverage the MD to do plastics procedures (usually after a plastics fellowship--yes including boob jobs and botox.) They still avoid doing ENT soft tissue work usually, but of course do soft tissue of face.

@ Vistaril. Totally, the money maker in OMFS is shelling molars q10-15 minutes. 600k+ with that sort of practice is not uncommon.

Academic folk doing complicated facial (max/mand) reconstruction are making way less.

 

[notdeadyet]

Re: the OFMS thing-

They out earn your typical ENT. They were getting well over $500k starting offers.

But also, it's competitive as hell. Typically top dental students at top schools only. I went to a solid med school and the OFMS folks who attended typically had some of the highest marks and all were top 10% in their graduating class.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mad Jack]

I just had to pay $1,300 in cash for my gf to have a root canal from an endodontist that took all of an hour. $1,300 an hour isn't all that bad of a salary, really.

 

[Frazier]

OMFS is essentially as competitive to land as medicine's most competitive specialties...as noted above, the OMFS students at my med school were typically top of their dental school class.

Enrolling in dental school with the lone goal of "being an OMFS" is as asinine as attending medical school with the lone goal of "being a dermatologist/plastic surgeon".

Sure it can happen, but not good odds if that is all that will make you happy.

 

[peachfuzz34]

Here is the dilemma in my eyes:

It's a battle between lifestyle/salary in dentistry vs. potential life fulfillment in psychiatry. I know for a fact that dentistry out competes psychiatry in terms of lifestyle and salary. The problem is that I am not sure what factors are important in my life. I am still in undergrad, don't have bills or a family. I can not gauge how much I value a larger salary or a more flexible schedule. Who knows? I may find fulfillment in dentistry too or I may find psychiatry boring once I experience the career on the inside. I feel like I am trying to forecast my standpoint 10 years from now of which field would I have minimal regret in. I would only pick psychiatry if the satisfaction or mentally stimulating aspects of the field out weigh the pros of dentistry. I have been set on medicine for awhile until every interaction I have had with physicians who discouraged me. They all told me to my face that dentistry was a better career and they regret their decision. I can't even listen to myself because I really don't know what "medicine" is. I may have romanticized the idea in my head, thus making dentistry appealing to me. It is always back and worth. I started to look into psychiatry because it seems to have some overlap with dentistry in terms of autonomy. But I don't know enough about the private practice setting to imagine the pros and cons of psychiatry vs dentistry. Even if I was guaranteed OMFS. Should I take it? Would I be happier? I ask these types of questions first, before I doubt my chances in actually matching into OMFS.

 

[vistaril]

I just had to pay $1,300 in cash for my gf to have a root canal from an endodontist that took all of an hour. $1,300 an hour isn't all that bad of a salary, really.

Agreed- and endo overheads are low as well. I spoke to one endo in private practice who just did 8 root canals everyday. At 1200 a pop average(some a little more, some a little less). I said, "dude, you're taking home 10k a day. What do you do with all that money?". He smiled and said "oh I only take home like 8k after all the expenses and salaries are paid".

He works 4 days a week....golfs all day Friday. Takes 2 whole months off(1 month in fall and one in the spring)

So 46 weeks x 4 days a week x 8k take home daily after expenses/overhead per day = a measly 1.4-1.5 million per year salary. And he plays golf every Friday all day and has 2 months off.

That's the life......

finally, what the heck were you paying for your gf's root canal for?

 

[vistaril]

Here is the dilemma in my eyes:

It's a battle between lifestyle/salary in dentistry vs. potential life fulfillment in psychiatry. I know for a fact that dentistry out competes psychiatry in terms of lifestyle and salary. The problem is that I am not sure what factors are important in my life. I am still in undergrad, don't have bills or a family. I can not gauge how much I value a larger salary or a more flexible schedule. Who knows? I may find fulfillment in dentistry too or I may find psychiatry boring once I experience the career on the inside. I feel like I am trying to forecast my standpoint 10 years from now of which field would I have minimal regret in. I would only pick psychiatry if the satisfaction or mentally stimulating aspects of the field out weigh the pros of dentistry. I have been set on medicine for awhile until every interaction I have had with physicians who discouraged me. They all told me to my face that dentistry was a better career and they regret their decision. I can't even listen to myself because I really don't know what "medicine" is. I may have romanticized the idea in my head, thus making dentistry appealing to me. It is always back and worth. I started to look into psychiatry because it seems to have some overlap with dentistry in terms of autonomy. But I don't know enough about the private practice setting to imagine the pros and cons of psychiatry vs dentistry. Even if I was guaranteed OMFS. Should I take it? Would I be happier? I ask these types of questions first, before I doubt my chances in actually matching into OMFS.

I think maybe you should find out a little more what life is like as a day to day psychiatrist for most of us. Most of us like our job(or at least parts of it), but we're hardly discovering Atlantis or climbing Everest here. It's a lot of routine stuff working with frustrating patients who may or may not comply with treatment(and even if they do sometimes the evidence suggests our interventions are of little value).....that doesn't mean we don't make a day to day difference in our field; but it does mean your expectations have to be reasonable.

 

[NotTheBestUSMLE]

I can't even listen to myself because I really don't know what "medicine" is.

This is a fair point.

Honestly, I'd say that the work most doctors and dentists do is very similar in the abstract. Surgeons have very different lives (including OMFS vs. the rest of dentistry.) You could do more shadowing.

In the end, maybe you should consider whether talking with patients is really important to you. Dentists talk a little, psychiatrists can talk a lot. Regular doctors, it's rather variable, and can be somewhat debated whether asking your standard set of rule in/rule out questions actually counts as talking.

Also consider how important working with your hands is. Dentists do a lot, psych very little, surgeons a lot, other docs, again variable.

 

[NotTheBestUSMLE]

Agreed- and endo overheads are low as well. I spoke to one endo in private practice who just did 8 root canals everyday. At 1200 a pop average(some a little more, some a little less). I said, "dude, you're taking home 10k a day. What do you do with all that money?". He smiled and said "oh I only take home like 8k after all the expenses and salaries are paid".

He works 4 days a week....golfs all day Friday. Takes 2 whole months off(1 month in fall and one in the spring)

So 46 weeks x 4 days a week x 8k take home daily after expenses/overhead per day = a measly 1.4-1.5 million per year salary. And he plays golf every Friday all day and has 2 months off.

That's the life......

finally, what the heck were you paying for your gf's root canal for?

Some endo's travel between regular dentistry practices, because they're usually called in when the regular dentist is out of their depth.

Zero overhead (minus whatever they might have to pay the primary--but usually it's a boon to the primary to have that service available in-office.)

 

[Mad Jack]

Agreed- and endo overheads are low as well. I spoke to one endo in private practice who just did 8 root canals everyday. At 1200 a pop average(some a little more, some a little less). I said, "dude, you're taking home 10k a day. What do you do with all that money?". He smiled and said "oh I only take home like 8k after all the expenses and salaries are paid".

He works 4 days a week....golfs all day Friday. Takes 2 whole months off(1 month in fall and one in the spring)

So 46 weeks x 4 days a week x 8k take home daily after expenses/overhead per day = a measly 1.4-1.5 million per year salary. And he plays golf every Friday all day and has 2 months off.

That's the life......

finally, what the heck were you paying for your gf's root canal for?

She's practically my wife, we've been together quite some time, and she'd marry me in a second if only I'd ask. I just don't believe in marriage, so that ain't happening ever. I treat her no different than I would if she were my wife though, and I couldn't bear seeing her in that kind of pain a minute longer than she needed to be.

 

[vistaril]

She's practically my wife, we've been together quite some time, and she'd marry me in a second if only I'd ask. I just don't believe in marriage, so that ain't happening ever. I treat her no different than I would if she were my wife though, and I couldn't bear seeing her in that kind of pain a minute longer than she needed to be.

not a bad deal for you- save yourself from the possible racket that is divorce for men. Just make sure you keep all your accounts, property, etc separate. You may think you have it secured, but where there is a man and money and a relationship you can be certain there is an SJW somewhere out there who wants to separate the man from that money.

 

[Mad Jack]

not a bad deal for you- save yourself from the possible racket that is divorce for men. Just make sure you keep all your accounts, property, etc separate. You may think you have it secured, but where there is a man and money and a relationship you can be certain there is an SJW somewhere out there who wants to separate the man from that money.

I've already played the marriage game a couple times, it ain't for me.

 

[hamstergang]

Dentists talk a little, psychiatrists can talk a lot.

Actually, in my experience, dentists talk as much as psychiatrists, but the dentists make sure the patient can't talk back.

 

[NotTheBestUSMLE]

Actually, in my experience, dentists talk as much as psychiatrists, but the dentists make sure the patient can't talk back.

Touche!

 

[JDoc9]

I'd say that dentists in the lay public might garner a little more respect than psychiatrists if that's important to you.

Hmm. Really? I have't really found this to be the case in my personal experiences.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

To the OP, do you want to work with teeth?

If not, then don't do dentistry. (Likewise, if you don't like mental health, stay away from psych)

 

[Leo Aquarius]

A few points that come to mind off the top of my head...

Psychiatry, especially in private practice, is much more of a solo sport, like tennis, if that's your thing. Dentistry is more of a team sport, you tend to work with hygienists and other office personnel, lots of chit-chatting and such in the office.

Every dentist I've ever had has been cheery and well-adjusted. I can't say the same thing about all the psychiatrists I've ever known. How much of this is from personality selection vs. the iatrogenic effect of the job is debatable.

I'd say that dentists in the lay public might garner a little more respect than psychiatrists if that's important to you.

Skunky you're actually wrong on all 3 points.

1. Plenty of psychiatric practices that are groups, utilizing a team of doctors, nurses, and office staff. Plenty of solo dentist shops on the side of random roads out there across America. The percentage of psychiatrists doing part-time work in a hospital setting is MUCH higher than the percentage of dentists doing part time work in a hospital team-based setting.

2. The coolest and most down-to-earth kids in med school became psychiatrists. Of all the doctors out there, psychiatrists must be personable because their livelihoods depend on it. I've met some nice dentists who are happy, and some others who are a tad mean and strange. I've met a few odd psychiatrists too. You can't generalize.

3. MDs are king. Garnering the most respect. Dentists are dentists. Not a big wow, not a bad thing either like a lawyer. The lay public respects psychiatrists more than dentists.

Sorry Skunky, nice tries but you're batting 0 for 3.

 

[Nasrudin]

She's practically my wife, we've been together quite some time, and she'd marry me in a second if only I'd ask. I just don't believe in marriage, so that ain't happening ever. I treat her no diffe
rent than I would if she were my wife though, and I couldn't bear seeing her in that kind of pain a minute longer than she needed to be.

Stay Black my brother.

 

[Mad Jack]

Stay Black my brother.

It's funny, I've actually had several people ask if I'm black on the forums because of my vernacular, when I'm actually very Southern and white. I can fake a Northern accent pretty damn well nowadays, but in text, I'm redneck as I ever was. People expect Coach and they get Ellis.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

I get the whole having been burned by marriage thing. I also see why men might not see the need if kids are not a goal. I can tell you that things can look different when you get down the road and face growing old alone. You might find the need to cover someone you care about with your insurance a stronger imperative than the risk of giving someone your house.

I’ll also point out that getting financially burned can go both ways. Sometimes the trick is finding the person with just as much to lose. It is like that yoplait yogurt slogan; “Mother always said it is just as easy to fall in love with a rich one”.

We don’t feel any morality issues when we try to match intellectual status, worrying about matching social/economic status may be somewhat less on the moral high ground, but I would bet it does have some positive correlation coefficient towards successful unions.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Dentists are always going to make more than us and that is both psychiatry and psychology. Our patients can usually live with us or without us and tend to delay treatment for years and sometimes longer. When a person needs a root canal because the nerve is inflamed, they will pay that dentist quickly. It's like the saying "I respect wisdom but I obey pain." Also, everyone sees the dentist and the more functional (i.e., mo' money) then the more they use their services. Our metric tends to be more of an inverse correlation, unfortunately.

I do plan on learning from dentists and eventually setting up a practice where I hire MA level practitioners to do the bulk of the "procedures" and make a little off of each one while overseeing each case. I did that for a while as clinical director of a treatment center and really enjoyed it and it is one way to maximize profits and make more than the about 150k that I am limited to as a solo biller.

 

[st2205]

Dentists are always going to make more than us and that is both psychiatry and psychology.

This is not true. There are lots of nuances that can be argued and perhaps different ranges with different distributions and spreads, but straight across mean-to-mean you won't find any data showing dentistry out earning psychiatry when talking about mean income of general psychiatry to general dentistry. You can add lots of qualifiers but if you are conparing each average the above is not true.

 

[smalltownpsych]

This is not true. There are lots of nuances that can be argued and perhaps different ranges with different distributions and spreads, but straight across mean-to-mean you won't find any data showing dentistry out earning psychiatry when talking about mean income of general psychiatry to general dentistry. You can add lots of qualifiers but if you are conparing each average the above is not true.

I stand corrected. I was making too many assumptions without looking at real data. Please don't tell my research methods students.

That's what I get for posting between patients and using Vistaril as a primary source. According to his post, they make millions.

 

[Shikima]

I do like how an endodontist will earn about $1800 for an apicoectomy in about 60-90 minutes and part of that is in the form of a cash payment.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

I stand corrected. I was making too many assumptions without looking at real data. Please don't tell my research methods students.

That's what I get for posting between patients and using Vistaril as a primary source. According to his post, they make millions.

Good catch. Always look at data. Vistaril is the king of salary hyperbole, all biased against psychiatry. Garbage collectors? They must make $80 to $100 an hour, with tips from mothers standing on lawns waving to them, bringing their hourly wage up to - 10 mothers per hour giving $5 - an hourly wage of $100 + $50 = $150 per hour. That's MORE than some hospital-based psychiatrists make. $150 x 8 gives a daily amount of $1200 per DAY!

11 months of work with a whole month of vacation, you too can make $250,000 a year as a garbage collector.

 

[freemontie]

She's practically my wife, we've been together quite some time, and she'd marry me in a second if only I'd ask. I just don't believe in marriage, so that ain't happening ever. I treat her no different than I would if she were my wife though, and I couldn't bear seeing her in that kind of pain a minute longer than she needed to be.

I've already played the marriage game a couple times, it ain't for me.

Are you sure you don't live in one of the 9 states that recognizes common law marriage? Cause if so, you're going to want to stop referring to her as "practically my wife," at least not publicly or written down.

 

[Mad Jack]

Are you sure you don't live in one of the 9 states that recognizes common law marriage? Cause if so, you're going to want to stop referring to her as "practically my wife," at least not publicly or written down.

I'm obviously sure I don't live in a common law marriage state lol

 

[digitlnoize]

I do like how an endodontist will earn about $1800 for an apicoectomy in about 60-90 minutes and part of that is in the form of a cash payment.

My father-in-law is a dentist. He has the most successful practice in town, for 40 years, and does very well, but dentistry is on the way down. If you want to be a slave to a corporation, dental is the way to go. It's getting exceedingly difficult to raise the capital needed to start a dental office of your own. The tech needed is just too expensive.

Keep in mind that these amazing per procedure numbers being thrown around are before overhead, which can run in the 60-70% range depending on the office and the procedure.

Psych, on the other hand, is autonomous, low overhead, and easy to own your own practice. Jobs are plentiful, and only getting more so. Salaries are rising.

Easy choice...at least it was for me.

Plus, do you like procedures or not?

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Common law states take all of the fun out of living in sin. So how long do you have to live together before it isn’t considered premarital sex? Talk about a buzz kill. On the flip side, now you can have a full blown affair without getting married.