Do Dentists have to start their own practice?

[SteinmetzMD]

Say someone was thinking about becoming a dentist, but didn't want to deal with starting their own practice and the business side of things (keeping books, staff, etc). What options do Dentists have when they don't have a desire to go into private practice?

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[MedDevil]

Say someone was thinking about becoming a dentist, but didn't want to deal with starting their own practice and the business side of things (keeping books, staff, etc). What options do Dentists have when they don't have a desire to go into private practice?

Work for someone else's practice or a dental chain.

 

[dentalWorks]

Say someone was thinking about becoming a dentist, but didn't want to deal with starting their own practice and the business side of things (keeping books, staff, etc). What options do Dentists have when they don't have a desire to go into private practice?

if you hire a strong manager...he/she can handle all this for you.... and your job will be only the owner / dentist (but not handle any business stuff)

 

[aggie-master]

I would keep in mind that is a tradition in the dental world to squeeze as much work as possible out of associates for as little pay as possible.

Many owner dentists and chains will have systems in place to take advantage of associates. For example they might join a capitation plan where they (the owners) get a big check every month for seeing a large group of patients at discount prices and you slave away half your time doing $10 fillings making 25% of your production. Where I've worked the owner didn't pay any production on x-rays but our x-ray fees were two-thirds of the cost of a new patient exam so I basically made around 11% of production on exams. The owner dentist also cherry picked the big cases so I'd work my butt off all day doing fillings and extractions and he'd outproduce me on a fraction of the work because he took all the high dollar crown and bridge and removable.

Once you've gone through that you end up wanting to get into ownership so you can either increase your earning potential or maybe slow down the amount of clinical work that you do and hopefully still earn a good amount of money.

 

[dantemac]

Here is a presentation from the recent ASDA conference given on just this topic:

What if I don't want to own a business? (ie your own practice?)
Life After Graduation
You have many options:
-residency
-research
-dental education
-associate/own practice
-AEGD/GPR:
-Usually stipend based, usually not with a tuition
-On call / weekends
-VA programs; generally good patients
-Specialty:
-Vary in cost, time, competitive level of application
-most require tuition
Research:
-Lab research tied to a university, grant-based
-clinical research tied to university.
-NIH funded; use their website
Dental Education:
-clinical faculty: what you specialize in
-science classes: PhD, speciality degree in their field
-courtesy faculty: unpaid or very low paying. Professors enjoy teaching
-pay is very low; not ideal for new graduate
-tenure track: Proven educators (agreed upon time to teach)
-clinical track: sign a contract of obligations
Example: 60% teach, 20% research, 10% private practice
-benefits vary widely: may or may not cover family; retirement?
-no loan repayment
Associateships
-vary widely in pay, opportunity, structure
-buy in/buy out (expectation to buy out and be responsible for percentage)
-strictly employee relationships (dentist needs help)
Why? Overload. Partnership. Grow practice.
-production (salary + bonus). % of production
-collections: production - all the expenses/losses, % of resultant money received
by practice
-help bring in new patients. But, old patients want the senior doctor
-associateships can work out well or not. Your mentor can be good or bad
-Chance to learn from veteran
-Learn how to sell to a patient
-Sometimes there are questionable ethics
Loan repayment options:
-IHS: Indians / Native Alaskans (requires WREB)
-24k/year loan repayment
-only accepts health profession loans
-scope of practice varies widely: wealthy populations vs. Medicaid dentistry
PHS:
-Uniformed, commissioned in corps.
-Salary structure, promotions, benefits, etc
-VA / IHS opportunities
-Dentists usually enjoy it
National health service corps:
-federally qualified health center
-sign two year commitment
-health care professional shortage area: score defines salary
Score 1: No shortage of healthcare providers
Score > 1: lack of affordable healthcare
Score > 20: lacking in healthcare; higher pay
Flexible: can include private practice
Benefits covered w/ paid vacation
Clinic quality varies
Full malpractice insurance under government
Pays off loans
Pay varies 60k-150k starting (depending on locale)
Other options:
-Group practice: evolution from solo practice. More people decide to work in
groups due to cash flow reasons/ specialists in house
-Corporate dentistry: Aspen, etc. Many opinions on that model
-Hospital dentistry: OR dentistry, etc. You are on hospital staff
-humanitarian dentistry: WHO
Med Missions (brigades)
Short or long term care
[email protected]
ADA New Dentist Conference

 

[suarez 7]

Here is a presentation from the recent ASDA conference given on just this topic:

What if I don't want to own a business? (ie your own practice?)
Life After Graduation
You have many options: really?
-residency You can't do this every year...
-research Most dentists don't care for this
-dental education Depends on the opportunity, proximity to a school, and not everyone is cut out to be a clinical instructor
-associate/own practice obviously

I thought about the same question the other day, and the truth is there aren't a lot you can do with a DMD/DDS other than owning a practice or working for a corp. Some say do associateship but most of those fail and you won't be able to do that your whole life. Corporate sucks as they work you long, and ownership of priv practice is what I actually want to avoid.
Really unfortunate situation for people like us.

 

[dentalWorks]

I thought about the same question the other day, and the truth is there aren't a lot you can do with a DMD/DDS other than owning a practice or working for a corp. Some say do associateship but most of those fail and you won't be able to do that your whole life. Corporate sucks as they work you long, and ownership of priv practice is what I actually want to avoid.
Really unfortunate situation for people like us.

so... let me get this straight.... you don't wanna do associateship because "most of those fail"
you don't wanna do corporate because "sucks"
and you don't wanna do private practice because "want to avoid"

Why did you go into dentistry?

 

[suarez 7]

so... let me get this straight.... you don't wanna do associateship because "most of those fail"
you don't wanna do corporate because "sucks"
and you don't wanna do private practice because "want to avoid"

Why did you go into dentistry?

I didn't say I didn't want to be an associate. I meant that most of associateships fail, that the chances of finding a stable one that can last you an entire (or most of) your career is very slim. So when people here suggest associateship as an alternative to practice ownership, it's not a viable option unless you enjoy hopping from one practice (and location) to another.

 

[ktran17]

You can also buy into a partnership where you receive a lower % of profit in return for less business responsibilities. 👍

 

[dentalWorks]

I didn't say I didn't want to be an associate. I meant that most of associateships fail, that the chances of finding a stable one that can last you an entire (or most of) your career is very slim. So when people here suggest associateship as an alternative to practice ownership, it's not a viable option unless you enjoy hopping from one practice (and location) to another.

first off all... I HIGHLY doubt a great majority of pre-dents, dental students, and new graduates wanna stay as associates all their careers. If thats the case, then I feel sorry for you because you will never hit the proper income potential. Matter of fact, if you enjoy working for others, you should have went into medicine, as they have much alot more opportunities in hospitals.

associateship should never be permanent (unless you are in the rare 1% dentist population where you REALLY get hooked up). Its more of a stepping stone, a place where you speed up and develop better skills, and most importantly, learn a thing or two about the business and insurance side of dentistry. then you should move on from associateship to other opportunities