how old is too old to practice dentistry (ie how long does a dental career last)

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thewillofallah

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there are tons of discussions on "how old is too old to go to dental school" but I haven't yet encountered one about "how old is too old to be a dentist"?

Dentistry is physical in a way (some) med specialties are not. There's lots of cramped positions, things like hand tremors are very detrimental. Vision weakening or arthritis will be big problems, etc.

1)How long are you expecting (ie budgeting) your dental career to last? Until 50? 60?
2) What paths are open to a seasoned dentist who has physical difficulties doing the job? Is there some administrative positions you can segue into?

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Until my practices, loans, 10,000sq ft home, second home in Lake Como, my Acura NSX are paid for. Also have about 3 million saved up for retirement. When I reach that goal, I think it's time for me to retire.

I assume you can go into teaching once you are limited physically.
 
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to be serious though, maybe I could retire at 50...depends on the situation. Again, it would depend on how fast I reach certain goals. Obviously I was joking with the previous goals I stated, haha. Probably unattainable as a dentist...but i want to be able travel and live comfortably after retiring. It will help that my fiance plans on being a physician as well. So hopefully, we reach those goals a bit faster.
 
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Until I can't make my own dentures anymore.
 
I've always seen myself "retiring" at age 50 or 55 (but by that time, 50 will be the new 30), but by retiring I mean leaving private practice. I would love to be able to devote a lot more time in my retirement years volunteering at free health clinics and maybe being a instructor in clinics at the dental school.

In order for me to retire I need to be making some passive income from real estate and hopefully have 4-5 million in investments, we plan to live on an income of $150k or hopefully less in retirement years.
 
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Hope to "retire" in my 50s. Will probably piddle around with other things at that point... Maybe practice one day a week, teach, or something. I am going to save extensively for retirement and will hopefully have set myself up to have passive income. Not sure when my husband will want to retire... He'll probably wait til his 60s and then piddle around similarly. :)
 
I heard somewhere the average career for dentists is about 40 years... Don't see how people would want to retire after working only roughly 25 years in this amazing career to be done by 50 (if you get into school fresh out of undergrad).

I'm gonna work till my fingers fall off but maybe that's just me.
 
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I heard somewhere the average career for dentists is about 40 years... Don't see how people would want to retire after working only roughly 25 years in this amazing career to be done by 50 (if you get into school fresh out of undergrad).

I'm gonna work till my fingers fall off but maybe that's just me.
Different strokes. All I want is to enjoy my life, pay off my debt, father a child or two, and leave this world better off than when I entered it. There are limitless ways to go about this. Financial security is one of them, and I try to separate myself from the consumerist, "gotta buy it" mindset so prevalent in our culture. Anyways, I hope to never retire. I can't imagine why anyone would want to delay gratification until they're 55+ and then just do everything they didn't do. There are no guarantees in this world (except that you'll be leaving it relatively soon). We are young now. I am taking the first vacation of my life this year, and will do something similar every year until I am unable to. When I'm 60 and my back doesn't work and my neck is messed up and the Space Pope has finally decreed that gay marriage is OK, I hope to be teaching in a floating chair and instilling the same excitement I have into yet another generation of dentists.
 
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Long term goals is going into teaching and administration for d schools, short term is graduate and be a competent dentist
 
96 is the oldest I've heard of. That's a little much. Hopefully not full-time or something.

I'll go as long as possible building a decent retirement along the way. I would be okay with education later. It's nice that there are options should disability come into the picture.
 
At the dentist office that I work at, there are many people that work in one place. There are specialists "in house" (endo, perio, fillings, prosth) and there are doctors that are just there for exams. The older ones (late 50's/60's) are the ones that just do exams mostly. Anyways, one of the doctors had their own practice for 30 years, sold it and taught at a dental school for maybe 10 or so years while working at the office I work at. He's "retired" from having his own place, running the business aspect of it, etc. He sold his practice but he still technically works as a dentist doing exams at the office I work at. A pretty sweet job in my opinion.
 
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