How fast are you expected to work in general dentistry?

[bennewill]

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As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

 

[yappy]

As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

In the wrong environment, you will be constantly rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue in any specialty. Pick whichever field interests you most.

 

[OncePreDent]

As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

Dental Anesthesiologist is going to be the most laid back/about taking time and doing the procedure right. Ortho is going to be the highest patient load per/day, but as @yappy said, you can feel rushed in any specialty. I believe dental anesthesiologist would be the exception.

 

[cooliyak]

As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

If you find the right job in a community health center, you can have a really great balance between bettering your skills and improving your speed. Most are salaried and so you are not worried about production. They used to be on the lower end of pay, but now, with benefits, I’m just about equal to my private practice counterpart.
I could go on and on about the benefits of working at a place like this (all the insurances (life, health, disability, malpractice), retirement match, not having the stress of running your own practice, loan repayment/forgiveness etc), but I think it would definitely be worth looking at for the type of practice life you described. It also comes with its frustrations, but I’ve been working in public health since I graduated and I have loved (almost) every bit of it.

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

In general, the faster you work/more patients you see, the more money you’ll make no matter the specialty. If you’re comfortable with a couple hundred thousand dollars you won’t have to work that fast. If you own a practice and go the FFS route you can see fewer patients and make more money per procedure. But at the end of the day the more you do, the more you make. Find the balance that fits you.

 

[bennewill]

Dental Anesthesiologist is going to be the most laid back/about taking time and doing the procedure right. Ortho is going to be the highest patient load per/day, but as @yappy said, you can feel rushed in any specialty. I believe dental anesthesiologist would be the exception.

Honestly have been looking into this route. One thing I am worried about is job security, I know this field can be very location dependent. I wouldn't be against traveling, but am looking for a decent work/life balance. I know the type of work I personally excell at. I don't work well when I am rushed. I am absolutely dead set about choosing dentistry as a career path.

 

[JacquesVallee]

Honestly have been looking into this route. One thing I am worried about is job security, I know this field can be very location dependent. I wouldn't be against traveling, but am looking for a decent work/life balance. I know the type of work I personally excell at. I don't work well when I am rushed. I am absolutely dead set about choosing dentistry as a career path.

I don't understand going to dental school set on being a DA. If you're interested in anesthesia, why not just go to med school at that point? There's no guarantee you'll match DA, while medicine will give you many more options similar to it.

 

[bennewill]

I don't understand going to dental school set of being a DA. If you're interested in anesthesia, why not just go to med school at that point? There's no guarantee you'll match DA, while medicine will give you many more options similar to it.

There is no gaurentee you will match into any speciality, but I'd rather be a general dentist than a general practitioner. To answer your question.

 

[JacquesVallee]

There is no gaurentee you will match into any speciality, but I'd rather be a general dentist than a general practitioner. To answer your question.

There are plenty of medical specialties that aren't competitive that aren't primary care. Think pm&r, pathology, neurology, etc. Dentistry you basically have to be okay with being a general dentist. Just food for thought.

 

[bennewill]

Based one some of the responses, I think it is too difficult or inaccurate to paint a blanket statement about an entire field. Sounds like it really depends on the practice. What I like about general dentistry, you can be as busy as you like when working for yourself. I have just heard lots of horror stories about the corporate practices and young dentists having breakdowns from the expected workload... particulary in the dental field. I'm thoroughly interested in dentistry, but being precautious before I jump in.

 

[yappy]

The anesthesiologist I work with is pressed for time, too. ie. a simple nosebleed becomes a huge headache because they're stressed due to time, not because it's a medical emergency. It's no different than a hospital where the room must be turned. In anesthesia, time is money. If a specialty or general practice leads to you being your own boss, you can go as slow as your overhead ($$$) and patients allow.

This is what jobs have become, unfortunately. You have a specific skillset, and through market efficiencies, the price of your labor has been reduced such that it is close to the price of delivering your labor. Therefore, you cannot afford to be slow or inefficient. That is why cooking food at home is fun and cooking in a restaurant is miserable.

You should look into fields that are non-procedural if you're not in dental school yet. You may like the nature of those jobs better. Look into medical school and shadow physicians. If you're dead set on dentistry, then do the HPSP scholarship, where your school will be paid for and you work at the speed of the public sector.

 

[LFA20]

As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

It all depends on your hand/diagnostic skills upon graduation. In dental school we are taught to do things in an ideal situation and you'll quickly find out that's not the case in real life. There are a lot of factors that can affect your results(variations in the shape, angulation, eruption on the tooth you are working on as well as adjacent/opposing tooth, occlusion, mouth opening/tongue/saliva, insurance coverage, etc). The key is being able to improvise and not panic when these not so ideal situations hit you. Unfortunately the only way to get better is through experience. Dentistry is all about reps/learning from your mistakes.

My advice for pre-dents is to join the military. School is paid for and you can focus on quality without worrying about speed. With time, you are gonna get faster.

 

[bennewill]

You should look into fields that are non-procedural if you're not in dental school yet.

What fields are non-procedural? I believe that would rule out all med and dental fields no?

I had this fantasy in my mind that I would like the procedures because I am a visual learner, so working with my hands and getting to interact with patients would allow me to excel, versus office or paperwork sort of career.

Dentistry is one of those fields that is hard to tell until you try, but by then it's too late lol.

 

[gorilla3]

As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

Not very fast...just faster than the speed of sounds, slower than the speed of light. Good luck young one.

 

[yappy]

What fields are non-procedural? I believe that would rule out all med and dental fields no?

I had this fantasy in my mind that I would like the procedures because I am a visual learner, so working with my hands and getting to interact with patients would allow me to excel, versus office or paperwork sort of career.

Dentistry is one of those fields that is hard to tell until you try, but by then it's too late lol.

Many physicians don’t do procedures or surgery. Look into internal medicine and the fellowship (specialties) that branch from it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a visual learner or not. Actually, im pretty sure all of that is made up. Just do what you want.
The biggest decision is figuring out if you want to be a physician or dentist. Figure out everything else later.

 

[JacquesVallee]

What fields are non-procedural? I believe that would rule out all med and dental fields no?

I had this fantasy in my mind that I would like the procedures because I am a visual learner, so working with my hands and getting to interact with patients would allow me to excel, versus office or paperwork sort of career.

Dentistry is one of those fields that is hard to tell until you try, but by then it's too late lol.

Dental fields that are non procedural are, as far as I can think of, oral radiology and oral path, both of which are niche fields. Medicine will have far far more options.

 

[TanMan]

If you're an owner of a practice, then you go at your own pace. If you work for someone else, it is at their discretion on scheduling, and if you can't see an x amount of patients/revenue per day, then you will probably be let go. The latter is where the mismatch often occurs.

I like the rush of seeing a ton of patients per day. It just makes the day go so much faster and more money of course. Mentally, if you cannot handle the hustle and bustle of private practice, you may consider public health, IHS, or some low volume, fixed pay type of practice.

 

[bennewill]

If you're an owner of a practice, then you go at your own pace. If you work for someone else, it is at their discretion on scheduling, and if you can't see an x amount of patients/revenue per day, then you will probably be let go. The latter is where the mismatch often occurs.

I like the rush of seeing a ton of patients per day. It just makes the day go so much faster and more money of course. Mentally, if you cannot handle the hustle and bustle of private practice, you may consider public health, IHS, or some low volume, fixed pay type of practice.

In that case... I guess speed will come with practice and time. I like the rush too. I worked in culinary kitchens while going to school full time, as a line cook while getting shouted at. Slicing open an onion may be different from drilling a tooth.

I can say I like fast paced. I thrive in chaos. However... when I hear comments such as "The amount of patients you are expected to take on in orthodontics is borderline dangerous and gives the industry a bad name." I really want to avoid being taken advantage of as a new graduate, and I'm not sure exactly where the industry itself is headed for the better or worse.

The worst that can happen in a kitchen is that you burn someone's food. Worst that can happen in a dental office is you seriously injure your patient. I'm really trying to avoid walking into a dangerous situation knowing myself and my strengths and weaknesses. Not that I have a problem with speed, but work much better when I am not being micromanaged on the what, when, where and how.

 

[bennewill]

Dental fields that are non procedural are, as far as I can think of, oral radiology and oral path, both of which are niche fields. Medicine will have far far more options.

Being honest with you, based on my understanding med school has much higher math and science requirements. Not that I wouldn't be interested in checking out what is available, but have none of the prereqs needed to get into med school like I do dental.

 

[bennewill]

If you find the right job in a community health center, you can have a really great balance between bettering your skills and improving your speed. Most are salaried and so you are not worried about production. They used to be on the lower end of pay, but now, with benefits, I’m just about equal to my private practice counterpart.
I could go on and on about the benefits of working at a place like this (all the insurances (life, health, disability, malpractice), retirement match, not having the stress of running your own practice, loan repayment/forgiveness etc), but I think it would definitely be worth looking at for the type of practice life you described. It also comes with its frustrations, but I’ve been working in public health since I graduated and I have loved (almost) every bit of it.

Thank you. I will take your comment into consideration. Do they have any ortho public health positions? I imagine if they do exist they are more rare, as braces are seen as a luxury item by dental insurance. I wouldn't mind being a GD, and also wouldn't mind taking half the pay if it meant having a better quality of life both physically and mentally at least until I pick up speed. I am personally concerned watching the trends in the dental field and seeing the expected output and workload increase. I want to be smart about how I approach this career choice.

 

[SirBrotherJam]

Honestly have been looking into this route. One thing I am worried about is job security, I know this field can be very location dependent. I wouldn't be against traveling, but am looking for a decent work/life balance. I know the type of work I personally excell at. I don't work well when I am rushed. I am absolutely dead set about choosing dentistry as a career path.

Have you considered military as an option? You have no production expectations and if you are ok with moving from time to time it can make for an adventurous lifestyle. Specializing in certain fields can be considered less competitive as well.

 

[D1Bound]

Forget about lifestyle for a good while if you have fat debt.

 

[TanMan]

Forget about lifestyle for a good while if you have fat debt.

Realistically speaking, I'd say that this is not necessarily a hard and fast rule. Lets say you are in your 20s and you can pay off your student loans in 1-2 years, then yes, go for it. If you are going to take 10+ years to pay off the debt, then you might as well have a good lifestyle while in debt. Paying off your debt in 10+ years with no life in your prime years is just a terrible waste of your prime years.

 

[Molar Whisperer]

As I'm deciding on which path I would like to take in the dental world, I'm hearing different answers from across the board.

For reference, when I was in high school I worked a delivery driving job for UPS. I was let go for not being fast enough. I learned that I work my best when I can take my time, and not a career where you are extremely timed or micromanaged.

Now with general dentistry from my understanding it depends on the practice. There are practices that try cramming as many patients into the schedule as humanely possible, and other practices which are more slower paced. Corporate being the former.

What would your reccomendations be for someone that wants to enter a career in dentistry, with a slower paced work environment. Are any of the specialities any better? (OMFS, Ortho, Endo)

I just hear horror stories about new dentists entering the career, going corporate and having a breakdown from being overworked and constantly being rushed and under pressure to perform for revenue.

You shouldn't let your bad HS UPS work experience discouraged you. We have all been there. Don't ever feel bad about "not being fast enough." I've been a dentist for 27 years and I still run behind. I had an experienced Periodontist colleague who took 3.5 hrs to do a sinus lift surgery (normally takes him 45 min). Dr. John Kois once mentioned of a spectrum where on one end, dentist will perform the most beautiful work but will take him or her the whole day to achieve it. In the other end, the dentist can be all about profit and no quality. We all need to find that spectrum where we can balance quantity with quality.

The horror stories about Corps are real. Even if you find a great Corp with great working environments, changes in upper mgt can bring on those crap conditions. Just be aware of which Corps have a lot of turnover.

I wouldn't worry which fields are "slower pace." IMO, it's like chasing which fields make the most money. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

 

[yappy]

Being honest with you, based on my understanding med school has much higher math and science requirements. Not that I wouldn't be interested in checking out what is available, but have none of the prereqs needed to get into med school like I do dental.

It’s the same prerequisites for medical and dental school if you’re in the US.

 

[schmoob]

The speed will come. Just learn the procedures and get good at them, focus on quality.
The beauty of general dentistry is that you can do any procedure you want as long as you are competent in it. General dentists do implants and 3rd molars and AllOnX every day.
Just be warned, know your limits. if you start trying to do some really advanced stuff like pterygoids and zygos and you screw up, you’ll be before a board of OS’s, not general dentists.