Corporate Dentistry $$?

[HelpNbeHelped]

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You don't have to all join Corporate Dentistry. There are private offices that are willing to hire new grads too. THe reason people end up joining such corporations is because of the VISA status. Many are foreign grads and they need them for filing their H1Bs and Green Cards or Citizenships.
If you are a citizen already, then you can rake in a lot of money in a private practice and earn equally good even by working less.
As somebody said, it is the walmart, but then why not go into Macy's (Private practice) and earn equally or a lot better for the amount of hard work you put in.
I am in a private practice and I have seen all my frriends go into the Corporate dentistry and rake in the range of 160-230K in the first year itself.
We don't have to be scared of dentistry. Its a nice profession, but like in any profession you need to work hard and work at least 40 hoursa week to be considered worthwhile. Those 40 hours only will be able to pay your loans and other amenities that you buy in later, to begin with a car then a house and what not.
Always remember that Dentistry is your Profession and ONLY that can help you earn money UNLESS you are multitalented and can focus on 10 different things.
My 2 cents..

 

[pmarank]

I believe that the current school loan market is heading for disaster at this current rate, where the cost of education has become completely disassociated from the value that the education provided. This is particularly true for dental school.

I read somewhere that if a child is born today, and if that child ends up going to Harvard, he or she is expected to pay $600k of tuition for a 4 years program. What if that child wants to go dental school after undergrad?

The average debt for my graduating class couple of years ago was $200-250k. This is considered astronomical in today's cost of education, but the # of applicants (the demand) is mostly what created that number, please fewer doctors (the supply) willing to teach those students at dental schools. Even state schools are getting less funds from their state to keep the cost down.

For private practice loans, the banks are willing to lend not based on how much debt you have, but the ability to pay you billis if you open a practice, which studies show 99% of solo practitioners can. So you will not have a problem getting loans, but the idea of being debt free is unlikely in the short term, specially if you buy a home, a car, have family with children, etc. Unless you take calculated risks and have a sound business model for your own private practice or more.

Are the loans worth it? $300k just sounds like a ridiculous number to me and I just can't seem to make sense of it. How much would you pay a month if your loans were around 300k after you graduated?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=866015&highlight=debt

That is a link to a thread that is very well written. I am not sure how accurate it is though. Do you really only make 55k a year after factoring in loans? That sounds pretty terrible after 4 years college + 4 years D-school.

 

[Cold Front]

Are the loans worth it? $300k just sounds like a ridiculous number to me and I just can't seem to make sense of it. How much would you pay a month if your loans were around 300k after you graduated?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=866015&highlight=debt

That is a link to a thread that is very well written. I am not sure how accurate it is though. Do you really only make 55k a year after factoring in loans? That sounds pretty terrible after 4 years college + 4 years D-school.

$300k loan equates to about $2k monthly payments. If you are a solo practitioner, and have a busy office, and you can produce well, your loan payments should be the least of your problems.

 

[charlestweed]

$300k loan equates to about $2k monthly payments. If you are a solo practitioner, and have a busy office, and you can produce well, your loan payments should be the least of your problems.

$2000/month if you plan to pay off the loan in 30 years. I don't know about you guys but for me, I don't want to still have to make loan payments when I am 60-65 years old. After 10+ years of hard work, I am getting tired and I just want to work as few days as possible. Dentistry is just a job and you will get tired of your job. It's not just about drills and fills and give people beautiful smiles. Being a dentist, you have to deal with patients (many of them drive you nut), with staff, with insurance companies that don't pay you, with sore hands/back pain, and with all the headaches associated with running a practice.

Many here probably argue that the income of dentist should increase over time and the dentist should have no problem paying off his/her student loans in less than 10 years. That's not true. A few of my friends, who graduated the same time with me, are still paying back their student loans. If you continue to work for someone else (for the dental chain or for a private practice), your income will not increase much. You produce the same for your boss and therefore you boss will pay you the same. I've worked for the dental chain for 10+ years and I haven't had a raise in the last 5 years. Daurang pointed out on another post that it 's not easy to put together $2000 in 30 days even for people who make $100-150k/year..... this is so true.

 

[theleatherwalle]

$2000/month if you plan to pay off the loan in 30 years. I don't know about you guys but for me, I don't want to still have to make loan payments when I am 60-65 years old. After 10+ years of hard work, I am getting tired and I just want to work as few days as possible. Dentistry is just a job and you will get tired of your job. It's not just about drills and fills and give people beautiful smiles. Being a dentist, you have to deal with patients (many of them drive you nut), with staff, with insurance companies that don't pay you, with sore hands/back pain, and with all the headaches associated with running a practice.

Many here probably argue that the income of dentist should increase over time and the dentist should have no problem paying off his/her student loans in less than 10 years. That's not true. A few of my friends, who graduated the same time with me, are still paying back their student loans. If you continue to work for someone else (for the dental chain or for a private practice), your income will not increase much. You produce the same for your boss and therefore you boss will pay you the same. I've worked for the dental chain for 10+ years and I haven't had a raise in the last 5 years. Daurang pointed out on another post that it 's not easy to put together $2000 in 30 days even for people who make $100-150k/year..... this is so true.

I wish we more pre-dents could see posts like this. This is reality! the 1% of dentists who make 250K are likely not going to be you. The ADA report only accounts for 10-15% dentists. It also counts dentists who own multiple chains! I wish people would actually post the whole report and not the snip bit with the number. I've seen what most people hiring right now are offering 90 to about 130K for associates. It depends on your hours, production, and lab fees. I just wish people would have a heavy dose of realism sometimes. Yes I am sure some cash cows exist out there, but they are shrinking.

Actually just for a little bit of math. We're assuming you are gonna graduate with dental school debt.

So lets say you make 10K a month or 120K a year
10K Go
-3K for taxes
-2K for student loan repayment.

You are now at 5K. This doesn't take into cost your living expenses, mortgage, or saving up to buy a dental practice. The cheapest dental practice ive seen around here is 200k. I know all places are different, but I feel 200K is likely a decent snap shot. I've seen the range from 200K to 1 million. All in all life is tough, but it is much tougher for other people. I think more and more we are just gonna have to accept that school is expensive, and try to do well in our respective practices.

 

[TheClutch]

irrelevant

 

[pmarank]

irrelevant

😎

 

[Dgeorg6]

I would say a little more than 1% of all dentist make at least 250k