I am a partner and make PLENTY of money. Youngish. Debt is under control and likely debt free before 35. Medium town, 1million people. Corporates have very good penetration and are SERVING THE NEEDS OF THE CONSUMER very well. I support one of the 3 largest DSOs in the country that has a very large presence in our city/state. They are growing. The patients are majority happy. Don't let people tell you all the corporates are bad. The target population is used to target, walmart, chipotle level customer service. So when you go in there and treat them awesome, you win everytime.
The DSO income is staggering. At least 2-3 times take home per hour. It's like old school oral surgery when all you do is sedations, 3rds, full mouth exts, implants and an occasional single tooth local. The GPs take care of basic stuff. I feel very welcome every day I show up and not dealing with a bunch of entitled assistants. When you've spent 10+ years surrounded by people who treat you bad, it's REALLY nice to be treated well. It's not perfect but very nice. I am also very nice. I work very hard. Specialists tend not to last more than a few years. As their private office grows and is good enough, the money isn't worth it, more about time off and other goals in life. I have no end date in mind. That being said, 2-4 days a month with the DSO can keep you a basic lifestyle if no debt.
There is nothing unethical about it if you are close and available for the practices and patients. You decide how to treat the patients. OS is so straight forward. There is no inlay vs crown vs direct restoration argument. There is prophy vs srp arguement. There is no arrestin. It's "tooth out? ok. looks like you're healthy enough for sedation, sound good? ok. etc. " One reason why I love OS. It's very straight forward. Patient charts transfer easily to the other offices and patients oddly enough don't care if they have to drive somewhere else to say hello. Can you do unethical things in a corporate office? Absolutely and the business people will turn their back for awhile. My patient experience is as close as possible to my private office. The one difference is same day consults and procedure and routine followup is by the GP. They are licensed dentists too. All my patients have my cell phone. Once a month I drive to an office just to say hello to a patient. Once a quarter a patient comes directly to my private office at no charge for subperiosteal abscess, bone spicule, etc.
At the end of the day, you don't get to control the GP offices that bring in their own specialists, the huge stealth DSO groups that together represent millions of OS production, the USOSM trajectory, the demands of the consumer, and the likely pathway of our young general dentist colleagues. Participate in the dental economy however you want, we always do very well. Our GP colleagues face some very challenging reimbursement and cost issues. There will be negative people who look down upon you. I look down on the old oral surgeons who think it's ok to charge a young OS $1mil for a PART OF A practice and then treat them like slaves for 5 years plus.
