I'm planning on applying to dental school soon and I've been doing some reading lately on corporate dentistry vs. private practice. IMO, after all the work that needs to be done in order to become a dentist, not becoming my own boss by working for corporate dentistry seems very unappealing. Will corporate dentistry continue to swallow up the dental landscape and make it less and less viable to become a new private practice owner?
How is the outlook for dentistry?
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schmoob
Not worrying about insurance, overhead, staff management, supplies, leasing, etc has its benefits.
To each their own, ya know?
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Outlook for dentistry? Great. It always will be as long as people don't brush and floss regularly as well as come in for recalls to get tartar and calculus scraped.
Is it a monopoly? An easy career? Stress free? Nope, but what is at the same income level?
After you work a few crappy jobs you'll understand that its worth it. Corporate or not. If you want someone else to take care of everything and you come in and work for a relatively large sum of money then go corporate.
If you want to be your own boss and make even more money but have the stress of overhead and managing a practice then go private.
Either way you'd be hard pressed to find another career with more pro's than con's like dentistry offers.
If you want money and that all you care about, go get an engineering degree. Easy money, boring job.
On that note however, you could be a part time corporate dentist and still make more than most peoples yearly income. just sayin. if money is all you cared about.
Is it a monopoly? An easy career? Stress free? Nope, but what is at the same income level?
After you work a few crappy jobs you'll understand that its worth it. Corporate or not. If you want someone else to take care of everything and you come in and work for a relatively large sum of money then go corporate.
If you want to be your own boss and make even more money but have the stress of overhead and managing a practice then go private.
Either way you'd be hard pressed to find another career with more pro's than con's like dentistry offers.
If you want money and that all you care about, go get an engineering degree. Easy money, boring job.
On that note however, you could be a part time corporate dentist and still make more than most peoples yearly income. just sayin. if money is all you cared about.
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I believe the trend is heading towards more Corporate offices. I'm amazed how many of these Corps have opened in the last 10 years. Ten yrs ago, I used to think these Corp practices were a joke. Not anymore. They are a force to be reckon with. The larger Corps are highly capitalized and are run like a Fortune 500 company. Interestingly there have been an influx of smaller Corp entities. Not sure how they can compete with the big boys. Maybe their endgame is that the big Corps will buy them out.
That said ..... a Corp takeover is probably not going to happen in my lifetime unless Jeff Bezos becomes interested in dentistry lol. Corps offer a certain type of service to a certain type of patient. Discerning patients will always want a traditional, private setting. As long as your practice is CONVENIENT for their busy work schedule.
I've spent time in both arenas. There is pride in practice ownership. It is exciting building your own practice. I made great money in the early days when I was younger. But you will work your butt off just like most small business owners do. The stress of having your own practice is 100 times more stressful than working at a Corp job. Pick your poison.
That said ..... a Corp takeover is probably not going to happen in my lifetime unless Jeff Bezos becomes interested in dentistry lol. Corps offer a certain type of service to a certain type of patient. Discerning patients will always want a traditional, private setting. As long as your practice is CONVENIENT for their busy work schedule.
I've spent time in both arenas. There is pride in practice ownership. It is exciting building your own practice. I made great money in the early days when I was younger. But you will work your butt off just like most small business owners do. The stress of having your own practice is 100 times more stressful than working at a Corp job. Pick your poison.
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Idk if Walmart dentistry will take off. I get Optometry, as it is not as invasive and the practitioner can refract really quick. I would probably have an issue going to a big box store to get my cavities filled.
I can see other corperations taking off though no problem. Brand recognition is strong.
I can see other corperations taking off though no problem. Brand recognition is strong.
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Boycott Walmart!
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Yep same. A major corp mailed me a letter promising $160K in loan repayment, high quality of life, ethical dentistry etc etc.
And I'm just a first year student.
They're going straight to the students.
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After working at a corp I can honestly say that the hate towards corps on SDN is blown way out of proportion. Corp life is pretty great if you don't feel super entitled to have the greatest office and don't need tons of prestige and you can make really great money doing so. All three of my bosses make more than typical owners of private practice but then again we're based in Dallas. (Sidenote one of them is one year out of school and is making WELL over the estimate for a typical associate, he's making close to owner money)
A year ago I felt like everyone else thinking corp was evil but now even though I would like my own practice I think ending up at corp wouldnt be that bad at all and I'm not scared at all about corp takeover.
With that said not all corp is the same i.e Monarch vs Comfort. I feel like I should do a separate post about this at some point to shine light on the fears of corp on SDN which I think roots in previous practice owners on SDN suffering from patients being taken from them.
Bottom line, corp really is not as bad as people make it out to be.
AMA
A year ago I felt like everyone else thinking corp was evil but now even though I would like my own practice I think ending up at corp wouldnt be that bad at all and I'm not scared at all about corp takeover.
With that said not all corp is the same i.e Monarch vs Comfort. I feel like I should do a separate post about this at some point to shine light on the fears of corp on SDN which I think roots in previous practice owners on SDN suffering from patients being taken from them.
Bottom line, corp really is not as bad as people make it out to be.
AMA
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At least those of you that are graduating have something to rely on if you do not land in a private practice. It's a job. That's it. I graduated in 1993 and guess what? No one was knocking on my door offering me a signing bonus, salary and benefits. There were no Corps then. I literally had to send emails, letters, hitting the pavement looking for a job. It wasn't easy. 1st situation right out of school ended miserably. I went and "shadowed" an older Orthodontist who had multiple practices and eventually bought one of his locations. I view it as buying myself a job.
To summarize: Corp jobs offer young dentists immediate income and a chance to work on their clinical skills. Once you've paid down a little debt and are clinically capable .... look for or start your OWN practice. You have the time and energy to do this. Do both if you need to until your practice is up to speed. Then when you get older ...like me .... Corp offers you another option. Teaching at dental schools is usually full time and you are paid less than Corp (I've been told). If you still want to earn decent money, work part time and have no management stress ..... Corps is there for you.
Those of you that want to blame Corps for all the problems in dentistry are short sighted. Technology combined with capitalism has made it difficult for EVERY job and profession through out history. That is inevitable progress .... for better or for worse.
To summarize: Corp jobs offer young dentists immediate income and a chance to work on their clinical skills. Once you've paid down a little debt and are clinically capable .... look for or start your OWN practice. You have the time and energy to do this. Do both if you need to until your practice is up to speed. Then when you get older ...like me .... Corp offers you another option. Teaching at dental schools is usually full time and you are paid less than Corp (I've been told). If you still want to earn decent money, work part time and have no management stress ..... Corps is there for you.
Those of you that want to blame Corps for all the problems in dentistry are short sighted. Technology combined with capitalism has made it difficult for EVERY job and profession through out history. That is inevitable progress .... for better or for worse.
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Lot of wisdom here. Corps are fantastic to build speed out of school from what I can tell. Even if I started my own practice I would absolutely want to build speed at a corp first and ease my way into private. Thats another great thing is that you dont have to necessarily throw all your eggs in one basket right when you start.
No school no matter how much "clinical experience" you get is going to prepare you for the speed of real life. Better to try and fail at a corp before your head is on the line in private. Work out your clinical and social quirks before starting your own practice, one less thing to worry about. ALSO, a lot of times in corp settings you have partners that you work with that can help you if you do something stupid (yes you will absolutely do something stupid and need help when you start no matter how well you are trained) as a new dentist
Would you mind shedding some light on some of those fears in this post? You seem to be one of the only people I've seen on here that doesn't completely paint Corp as being an evil force sucking the life out of dentistry, which has recently made me worried about my decision to pursue the profession. I'm interested to hear anything else you have to say.
Also, a specific question I have for this comment: You said even though you would like your own practice you wouldn't mind ending up at corp. Do you think growing corporate dentistry is slowly decreasing your chances of ever owning a successful practice?
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I made a post Corporate Dentistry is the Devil and the Profession is Dead..or is it?
In regards to your question, I do thin my chances are lessened but not to the degree that people make it out to be. If you are willing to put in the work, the people will come and you will be successful. It may take longer and you may have more stress but you can make it happen.
