First Job Questions

[runnerdoc7]

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So my wife is graduating this May and is looking for assosciateships. After reading lots of horror stories on these forums about first jobs, I thought it may be a good idea to seek the collective wisdom of the forum. Currently she is looking at a job at a pediatric practice which is looking to hire a general dentist for three days a week. On two of these days she would be the only dentist, on one day she would split patients with a pedodontist. This is a fairly busy practice with 5 operatories that has a full schedule. The salary would be 25% of production. We have been wary of jobs with no guaranteed base salary as she is a new dentist who may be a bit slower and we wanted to be sure she wouldn't be in a situation where she is just taking the leftovers from a more senior dentist. However, since this is a practice that is already busy and she would be the only dentist 2 days out of the week, our fears have been quelled somewhat. What do you guys think? Good deal or are there more questions that should be asked?

 

[peg lateral]

I would try to negotiate a higher percentage of production if possible. Or maybe talk about % collections if the practice has a good collections rate. Another thing I would be weary of is all the press a lot of pediatric practices/clinics have been getting the past few years due to Medicaid fraud. I interviewed at a pediatric practice hiring general dentists as well as pediatric dentists-- I am so so glad I did not take the job because the practice was recently in the news for huge Medicaid fraud. I know a lot of people talk down about corporate dentistry, but it has honestly been a pretty good experience for me. Patient flow was slow at the beginning, but has really started to pick up, and I had a guaranteed salary for 6 months. And my production is 28%. I was hesitant at first because I really wanted to see as many kids as possible because I am considering applying to pedo, but I have been able to see a decent number of kids doing extractions, fillings, SSCs/pulpotomies, etc. all the while increasing my speed and efficiency in other aspects should I not get into pedo. And I haven't had to worry about the Medicaid fraud or papoosing/restraining every child that some pediatric places do. Ideally, finding a place that has a guaranteed salary for 3-6 months would be ideal. Also, is your wife only interested in working 3 days/wk?