How long will it take to open your own practice

[PredentUndergrad]

Greetings dentists..!

I am a pre-dental undergrad and I am doing research about life after dental school. I would like to learn from your experiences and gain more information about this topic. I am not planning on doing residency, I am looking forward to becoming a general dentist. I have few questions to ask and I would appreciate it if you answer them.

1) What are the options after gradating from dental school?

2) Would you recommend to work at a non-profit dental clinic to get more experience? or work in a dental clinic and get an experience from there?

3) For how many years would you think a dental graduate need to feel confident to open his/her own practice?

4) what are some of the fears/ challenges that dental graduates face after finishing dental school?

5) How many years do you think a dental graduate/ dentist need to open his own clinic?

6) How many years (approximately) does it take a dentist to pay off his loans from dental school?
Thank you in advance!

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[dmacgolf70]

1) What are the options after gradating from dental school?> find a associate position in an area that is not saturated with dentists buy in to the practice early.
2) Would you recommend to work at a non-profit dental clinic to get more experience? or work in a dental clinic and get an experience from there? NO
3) For how many years would you think a dental graduate need to feel confident to open his/her own practice? 5yrs
4) what are some of the fears/ challenges that dental graduates face after finishing dental school? too many dentist fighting over the same patients, PPO plans reducing fees, every dentist thinks they are superior than all others.
5) How many years do you think a dental graduate/ dentist need to open his own clinic?5 yrs
6) How many years (approximately) does it take a dentist to pay off his loans from dental school? average student debt is $300,000 at interest rate of 3% for 15 yrs monthly payments of $2071/month for 15 years

 

[Silent Cool]

1) What are the options after gradating from dental school?> find a associate position in an area that is not saturated with dentists buy in to the practice early.
2) Would you recommend to work at a non-profit dental clinic to get more experience? or work in a dental clinic and get an experience from there? NO
3) For how many years would you think a dental graduate need to feel confident to open his/her own practice? 5yrs
4) what are some of the fears/ challenges that dental graduates face after finishing dental school? too many dentist fighting over the same patients, PPO plans reducing fees, every dentist thinks they are superior than all others.
5) How many years do you think a dental graduate/ dentist need to open his own clinic?5 yrs
6) How many years (approximately) does it take a dentist to pay off his loans from dental school? average student debt is $300,000 at interest rate of 3% for 15 yrs monthly payments of $2071/month for 15 years

Interest rates are 7.4%

 

[free99]

Interest rates are 7.4%

6.21% for direct unsubsidized and 7.21% for grad plus, if we're mincing numbers. Still leaps and bounds higher than the 3% quoted above. I think even with consolidated loans 3% is a thing of the past. For now, at least.

 

[dmacgolf70]

The key is not so much what the rate is but 2K/month or more for 10-15 yrs it is a large financial burden in addition to cost of living and cost of practice if one is able to find the money to start a practice another loan of 2-3 K/month

 

[Silent Cool]

6.21% for direct unsubsidized and 7.21% for grad plus, if we're mincing numbers. Still leaps and bounds higher than the 3% quoted above. I think even with consolidated loans 3% is a thing of the past. For now, at least.

Yeah, I guess the rates were lowered recently, but isn't the gov't expected to increase rates until 2020 to an expected avg. rate of 9.x%?

 

[Silent Cool]

The key is not so much what the rate is but 2K/month or more for 10-15 yrs it is a large financial burden in addition to cost of living and cost of practice if one is able to find the money to start a practice another loan of 2-3 K/month

The rate is EXTREMELY important, and the longer the loan is amortized the more important the rate is.

 

[PredentUndergrad]

1) What are the options after gradating from dental school?> find a associate position in an area that is not saturated with dentists buy in to the practice early.
2) Would you recommend to work at a non-profit dental clinic to get more experience? or work in a dental clinic and get an experience from there? NO
3) For how many years would you think a dental graduate need to feel confident to open his/her own practice? 5yrs
4) what are some of the fears/ challenges that dental graduates face after finishing dental school? too many dentist fighting over the same patients, PPO plans reducing fees, every dentist thinks they are superior than all others.
5) How many years do you think a dental graduate/ dentist need to open his own clinic?5 yrs
6) How many years (approximately) does it take a dentist to pay off his loans from dental school? average student debt is $300,000 at interest rate of 3% for 15 yrs monthly payments of $2071/month for 15 years

dmacgolf70, thank you so much for your response.
I have three questions to ask please:
1) Is it possible to pay a big portion of the loans after 5 years of dental school? like half of them?

2) why did you say to find an "associate position in an area that is not saturated with dentists"? Does it matter if the area is saturated or not saturated with dentists? if yes, how?

3) Is it possible to volunteer at a non-profit clinic while working at my own practice or while working as an associate dentist?

Thank you!!

 

[bucktoothdental]

I am not sure why so many graduating dentists and even current dentists require/assume graduating students need experience. I was able to graduate from dental school and immediately purchase my own practice. I didn't and still don't have patients running from the office with fear or problems from my treatment. Sure there were somethings that I needed to learn, but everything has worked very well. I graduating in 2010 and with the appreciation of my practice I plan to sale next year and could more than pay the remaining amount I owe on my student loans.

What does it say about our dental schools if graduates are unable to practice dentistry upon graduation?

 

[InspiredDDS]

I am not sure why so many graduating dentists and even current dentists require/assume graduating students need experience. I was able to graduate from dental school and immediately purchase my own practice. I didn't and still don't have patients running from the office with fear or problems from my treatment. Sure there were somethings that I needed to learn, but everything has worked very well. I graduating in 2010 and with the appreciation of my practice I plan to sale next year and could more than pay the remaining amount I owe on my student loans.

What does it say about our dental schools if graduates are unable to practice dentistry upon graduation?

Did you have a large student load debt when you graduated?

If so, how were you able to secure a loan? People on here are always saying that banks won't lend recent grads money.

 

[bucktoothdental]

I had an average amount. 220K. I have not checked lately but when I was looking banks would lend 350 K to graduating students. Wells Fargo specifically. Bank of America required a co-signor to help out. Needless to say I used Wells Fargo. I was also able to get Wells to agree to allow me to take a personal loan from a private party. Total amount I needed for my practice was 450 K. I suggest to find a practice that fits the available budget, live cheep for the first year and know things will be much better once you get the practice up to a higher producing value. 12 months and things were going very well.

Get some good consultants to help you out.

 

[InspiredDDS]

I had an average amount. 220K. I have not checked lately but when I was looking banks would lend 350 K to graduating students. Wells Fargo specifically. Bank of America required a co-signor to help out. Needless to say I used Wells Fargo. I was also able to get Wells to agree to allow me to take a personal loan from a private party. Total amount I needed for my practice was 450 K. I suggest to find a practice that fits the available budget, live cheep for the first year and know things will be much better once you get the practice up to a higher producing value. 12 months and things were going very well.

Get some good consultants to help you out.

Thanks!