dental incomes

[askadds]

just an old fart telling you how it really is.

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[JacquesVallee]

The median dentist income, per BLS, is 179k which I think is a more realistic number than average.

 

[TanMan]

Those numbers seem really low. What you should really look at is practice income, as the income we as gp-owners give ourselves is usually not that much.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

just an old fart telling you how it really is.
View attachment 403164

I’m sure the ADA has its very best working to fix this. Please keep paying your membership dues.

Big Hoss

 

[askadds]

I graduated in 2013, 500k a day was the going rate. today my hygienist makes $500/day and going rate for the the dentist is the same. YAY!!!!!

 

[TanMan]

Open an office and that 500/day can be 500 in 15 minutes.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

I graduated in 2013, 500k a day was the going rate. today my hygienist makes $500/day and going rate for the the dentist is the same. YAY!!!!!

Maybe if you had just paid your ADA dues we wouldn’t be in this mess…

Big Hoss

 

[TanMan]

Why would anyone pay a hygienist 500/day if you can get a doctor at the same rate? Lets see... hire staff that can only do a certain amount of procedures, or hire a doctor that can do the above and then some... inb4 hygienists do better cleanings and ohi.

 

[askadds]

Why would anyone pay a hygienist 500/day if you can get a doctor at the same rate? Lets see... hire staff that can only do a certain amount of procedures, or hire a doctor that can do the above and then some... inb4 hygienists do better cleanings and ohi.

you been a dentist for how many years?

Open an office and that 500/day can be 500 in 15 minutes.

yay! I just spend 500k on a education that used to be 150k back then plus lets spend another 500k to open office to pay the original 500k. dentistry is broken. old farts like me dont get it...I just happen to not have old folk syndrome

 

[2TH MVR]

I graduated in 2013, 500k a day was the going rate. today my hygienist makes $500/day and going rate for the the dentist is the same. YAY!!!!!

You're an old fart and you graduated in 2013? Did you enter dentistry late in life?
I graduated in 1993. I'm the poster child of an old fart. Well. Not really. I look pretty good for my age lol.

Just graduated from ortho residency in 1993.. Working for another orthodontist. I made about $500/day. Seemed like alot of money back then since I just graduated.

 

[AONLINE]

What I can't wrap my mind around is, despite being told by the BLS that the median dentist income is 179k, which literally means 50% of dentists make above that number and 50% make below that number, I don't actually know any dentist that works full time (i.e. at least 4 days/wk) and makes less than $200k. Most dentists I met or talked to make way more than that number which makes me sometimes feel like $200k is actually the floor and not the median. And I am a frequent on DentalTown, SDN, r/dentistry etc where people are quite comfortable discussing their incomes given their anonymity.

 

[TanMan]

you been a dentist for how many years?

yay! I just spend 500k on a education that used to be 150k back then plus lets spend another 500k to open office to pay the original 500k. dentistry is broken. old farts like me dont get it...I just happen to not have old folk syndrome

Over 10 years. Spending 500k on an education without a plan to make your ROI back is incredibly stupid. Spending 500k to open a new office is also really dumb if you can lower the costs... meaning, you don't need to spend 500k on the essentials to generate dental income.

Spending the least amount possible and getting a DDS/DMD would probably be the smarter financial decision. Why spend more when the end result is the same - a degree that grants you the rights to practice dentistry. On productivity, leveraging technology really makes us a force multiplier. Zirconia crowns in 35 minutes... 3 unit bridges in 1.5 hours, 4+ units next day... and these are times where there's gaps so you can start other procedures while you are milling and sintering the crowns. You could literally start 6 crown preps on 6 different patients and be done in a little over an hour. Old traditional dentistry took forever - if you're going to PVS, temporize, and so on, yeah, I'd rather retire than go back to that. With efficient systems, our incomes scale up more than our predecessors but the downward pressures of reimbursements counteract that to a certain extent.

Dentist time is worth at least 30 dollars a minute. I don't see many other professions that can compete given other factors such as lifestyle, hours, etc.

 

[JacquesVallee]

I don't actually know any dentist that works full time (i.e. at least 4 days/wk) and makes less than $200k.

I know dozens. In fact, a majority of the dentists I know. This is why statistics are important, because our anecdotes don't always conform to reality.

 

[TanMan]

I know dozens. In fact, a majority of the dentists I know. This is why statistics are important, because our anecdotes don't always conform to reality.

That's awful if they are making sub-200k. If that's the mediocre dental income that people settle for, then I would agree that dentistry would not be worth it at those income levels.

 

[JacquesVallee]

That's awful if they are making sub-200k. If that's the mediocre dental income that people settle for, then I would agree that dentistry would not be worth it at those income levels.

Sad but true and the statistics bear that out. I was looking for jobs a year ago in a city and every offer was basically 120-140k on four-five days a week so I stayed rural. The real money in dentistry is in ownership and that is steadily declining.