I am a GP practice owner. Go for OS?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
P

privatedds

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
42
Reaction score
39
Let me tell you my story.

Graduated 2012. Worked my ass off. Paid all my student loan. Have a practice and own a building. Saved up 3mil and I am making 900k/year working 4.5 days a week.

I am 37 and want to retire by 50 which I should be able to.

Ive always wanted to do OS but coming from a foreign country, my visa status and **** didnt really allow me to apply for any residency out of dental school. And ill be honest, I want to do OS for the income potential. I think once I graduate and work for corporate I can make 1.8M working 4.5 days? (Maybe more if I own a private practice?)

Is it worth selling my office and apply for OS?

By age 50, I should have 10M in todays money. If I quit now and sell my office, I would graduate residency 42 and work 8 years making 8.6M after tax which will put me in 11.6M zone.

Worth it? Sometimes I am up for challenge and sometimes I am scared of wasting my 30s in residency working like a dog. Am I too far in the game?
Members don't see this ad.
 
If doing it for the money, that’s a terrible use of four years of your life imo. If you’re not satisfied with the amount of money you’re currently making, you won’t be satisfied with double.

Find a different hobby, buy some real estate or fast food franchise or something, and enjoy sleeping and vacationing when you want the next four years.
 
That’s a lot of money for working only 4.5 days/wk. You seem to know what you are doing. I don’t think any of us here is qualify to offer you a career advice since most of us don’t make anywhere near what you make. You should be the one who gives advice to others so they can be rich like you.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
Boat on the Chesapeake said:
If doing it for the money, that’s a terrible use of four years of your life imo. If you’re not satisfied with the amount of money you’re currently making, you won’t be satisfied with double.

Find a different hobby, buy some real estate or fast food franchise or something, and enjoy sleeping and vacationing when you want the next four years.
Click to expand...
Thought about fast food franchise but thats another headache haha.
 
charlestweed said:
That’s a lot of money for working only 4.5 days/wk. You seem to know what you are doing. I don’t think don’t any of us here is qualify to offer you a career advice since most of us don’t make anywhere near what you make. You should be the one who gives advice to others so they can be rich like you.
Click to expand...
Would you do it? I thought ortho can make tons of money too.
 
privatedds said:
Would you do it? I thought ortho can make tons of money too.
Click to expand...
Me personally, No. Because I am lazy....4-6 years of schooling is way too long. It’s also too hard, skill-wise. I don’t have great manual dexterity. And I don’t think the OS admission committee would accept me because I don’t have the “hard work” mentality that they want from an OS applicant. I want an easy job that pays well. That’s why I specialized in ortho.
 
privatedds said:
Let me tell you my story.

Graduated 2012. Worked my ass off. Paid all my student loan. Have a practice and own a building. Saved up 3mil and I am making 900k/year working 4.5 days a week.

I am 37 and want to retire by 50 which I should be able to.

Ive always wanted to do OS but coming from a foreign country, my visa status and **** didnt really allow me to apply for any residency out of dental school. And ill be honest, I want to do OS for the income potential. I think once I graduate and work for corporate I can make 1.8M working 4.5 days? (Maybe more if I own a private practice?)

Is it worth selling my office and apply for OS?

By age 50, I should have 10M in todays money. If I quit now and sell my office, I would graduate residency 42 and work 8 years making 8.6M after tax which will put me in 11.6M zone.

Worth it? Sometimes I am up for challenge and sometimes I am scared of wasting my 30s in residency working like a dog. Am I too far in the game?
Click to expand...

Why not just buy more real estate instead w that fat income you’re already bringing in?
 
Hey man, are you okay? Between this post and your other ones I'm actually kinda worried for ya... You're grossing 900K doing 4.5 days of general dentistry at 37. That's quite nice but you seem unhappy. Do you want to do OS because you want a challenge or more money or to get away from whatever situation you are in now that makes you unhappy? TBH this is reading midlife crisis.

OS residency is not easy (to get in or to endure) and also 6 years of opportunity costs... you don't think you can invest your current money now and come out ahead by the time you're 50?
 
redchesus said:
Hey man, are you okay? Between this post and your other ones I'm actually kinda worried for ya... You're grossing 900K doing 4.5 days of general dentistry at 37. That's quite nice but you seem unhappy. Do you want to do OS because you want a challenge or more money or to get away from whatever situation you are in now that makes you unhappy? TBH this is reading midlife crisis.

OS residency is not easy (to get in or to endure) and also 6 years of opportunity costs... you don't think you can invest your current money now and come out ahead by the time you're 50?
Click to expand...

I just want to make more money. Maybe make more offices? Is it worth it?
 
privatedds said:
I just want to make more money. Maybe make more offices? Is it worth it?
Click to expand...
Applying for OS residency is a horrible idea if that's your only goal. You'll have to take time off to study for the CBSE, you'll probably have to do a non-cat after being out of school for so long. You're looking at 5-7 more years and you probably won't even make as much as you are currently are right out of residency, assuming you even get in in the first place. Why don't you just buy more practices/property or take CE if your goal is to make 2M a year. It'd be easier to do that as a GP than an OS in your situation.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Big Time Hoosier said:
Probably an administrator at a school like NYU or USC trying to make predents think they’ll have no problems paying back their student loans.

Big Hoss
Click to expand...

Not lying not trolling. For the record, class of 2010s is probably the last guys making their degree worthwile in dentistry. Anyone going to private dental school now is either stupid or braindead or both.
 
redchesus said:
if you’re not happy with with 900K (I assume you’re reporting take-home) then you won’t be happy with more money either…
Click to expand...
totally agree.

there is not a significant lifestyle change between 900k and 1.8 mil where it would even be remotely worth going back to OS residency
 
PerioDont said:
totally agree.

there is not a significant lifestyle change between 900k and 1.8 mil where it would even be remotely worth going back to OS residency
Click to expand...

I did some calculations. If I want to retire at 47 with 10mil its better to keep doing what i am doing. If more, better to go back.
 
Lol
privatedds said:
What do you mean by financially illiterate?
Click to expand...

If you can't make 900k work for some reason, and or you are "unhappy" with the amount of money you are taking home.... then I don't think making "more" will make you happy.

At a certain income level, there is diminishing returns to "happiness" that money will give you. A 50k salary to 100k salary is a huge difference in happiness, while a 200k to 250k income doesn't do much. You already "make" 900k and making just a bit more prob won't do much for your happiness. Plus happiness comes from the inside, not how much net worth you are.

So at the end of the day, this is the last post for me on this "troll" post, but if you can't be happy with the top .000001% of earners in all of america, then I dunno what will.
 
Ivy.ch said:
Did you factor in the nights crying to sleep after a 36 hour shift, the premature balding, and the nagging back pain that feels like a toddler is hanging on your shoulders?
Click to expand...
How hard is it to get in?
 
privatedds said:
I did some calculations. If I want to retire at 47 with 10mil its better to keep doing what i am doing. If more, better to go back.
Click to expand...
This definitely feels trolly at this point... if you go to OS residency you will definitely not be retiring by 47... you're 37, you'll be 39 when you matriculate (it is too late this cycle) that is IF you get in the first attempt (very difficult). After 6 years, you will be 45. The other thing is you are an established GP now after 10 years of practice, you will start from scratch as a new OS grad: skills, patient base, good will, etc.
Again... opportunity costs are very high here. There are a lot of other avenues for passive income.
 
Last edited:
redchesus said:
This definitely feels trolly at this point... if you go to OS residency you will definitely not be retiring by 47... you're 37, you'll be 39 when you matriculate (it is too late this cycle) that is IF you get in the first attempt (very difficult). After 6 years, you will be 45. The other thing is you are an established GP now after 10 years of practice, you will start from scratch as a new OS grad: skills, patient base, good will, etc.
Again... opportunity costs is very high here. There are a lot of other avenues for passive income.
Click to expand...

Isnt it 4 years? Who the hell wastes 2 years on a useless MD degree?
 
If your thing is that you want to clear $1m doing OS and that’s your main interest, what’s stopping you from doing that right now? I know of plenty of GPs doing primarily exodontia and making a lot of money. There’s no point getting beaten up for 4 years just to fall back on exodontia. It’s twice as silly if you’re already making as much as you claim.

It’s not easy to get in. Many qualified applicants fail to match every year and end up in purgatory until the next cycle. You’ll have to study for and do well on the CBSE, which is not easy if you haven’t seen the material in the last decade. And you may have to do an intern year first, and so on and so forth.

If your interest was in full-scope surgery or at least something other than just income potential then I could understand doing whatever you need to do. It’s a free country, but that’s a ridiculous way to spend 4 years if you don’t care about actually doing surgery.

I read your other post. I promise you that office-based OS is just as mind-numbing as general dentistry after a while.
 
redchesus said:
LOL okay... this is a troll then. Ya got me. Man some people have all the time in the world...
Click to expand...
I mean it. When it comes to lucrative procedures, MD degree means nothing. And no matter how many years one spends, Os cant never be the "real doctor"
 
privatedds said:
Let me tell you my story.

Graduated 2012. Worked my ass off. Paid all my student loan. Have a practice and own a building. Saved up 3mil and I am making 900k/year working 4.5 days a week.

I am 37 and want to retire by 50 which I should be able to.

Ive always wanted to do OS but coming from a foreign country, my visa status and **** didnt really allow me to apply for any residency out of dental school. And ill be honest, I want to do OS for the income potential. I think once I graduate and work for corporate I can make 1.8M working 4.5 days? (Maybe more if I own a private practice?)

Is it worth selling my office and apply for OS?

By age 50, I should have 10M in todays money. If I quit now and sell my office, I would graduate residency 42 and work 8 years making 8.6M after tax which will put me in 11.6M zone.

Worth it? Sometimes I am up for challenge and sometimes I am scared of wasting my 30s in residency working like a dog. Am I too far in the game?
Click to expand...

King Midas.
 
mangler said:
Applying for OS residency is a horrible idea if that's your only goal. You'll have to take time off to study for the CBSE, you'll probably have to do a non-cat after being out of school for so long. You're looking at 5-7 more years and you probably won't even make as much as you are currently are right out of residency, assuming you even get in in the first place. Why don't you just buy more practices/property or take CE if your goal is to make 2M a year. It'd be easier to do that as a GP than an OS in your situation.
Click to expand...

The OP is probably a dental student bored in a class that he/she doesn’t enjoy attending. No one who makes 900k/yr (with 3M saved) looks for advise in these circles.

Also, if anyone is 37 today and is considering OS. It takes 1-2 years to complete the process of getting in. He/she will be 39, add 4 years, that’s 43, add getting established for another 2-3 years, they’re now at the age of 45-46… they’re pretty much 50 by then physically with all the OS stress and sweat they’ve put into it. OS are the marathon runners of dentistry. If you get into it for the money, you will be unhappy, and the residency program will chew you so hard and it will spit you right out in the first few weeks to months of the program.
 
Cold Front said:
The OP is probably a dental student bored in a class that he/she doesn’t enjoy attending. No one who makes 900k/yr (with 3M saved) looks for advise in these circles.

Also, if anyone is 37 today and is considering OS. It takes 1-2 years to complete the process of getting in. He/she will be 39, add 4 years, that’s 43, add getting established for another 2-3 years, they’re now at the age of 45-46… they’re pretty much 50 by then physically with all the OS stress and sweat they’ve put into it. OS are the marathon runners of dentistry. If you get into it for the money, you will be unhappy, and the residency program will chew you so hard and it will spit you right out in the first few weeks to months of the program.
Click to expand...
If they could even get in. If a 45-year-old interviewed with us, a lot of eyebrows would be raised, and we would be very suspicious.
 
Ivy.ch said:
If they could even get in. If a 45-year-old interviewed with us, a lot of eyebrows would be raised, and we would be very suspicious.
Click to expand...
Isn’t ageism illegal in the US?
 
privatedds said:
I mean it. When it comes to lucrative procedures, MD degree means nothing. And no matter how many years one spends, Os cant never be the "real doctor"
Click to expand...
Anyone who uses the phrase “real doctor” like this automatically shows their hand as someone under the age of 25, extremely naive as well as insecure beyond measure.
 
BYU4you said:
Anyone who uses the phrase “real doctor” like this automatically shows their hand as someone under the age of 25, extremely naive as well as insecure beyond measure.
Click to expand...
When I was in residency and the “real doctors” in the ED paged me about some patient, it was always great to hear the young residents try to describe the situation. They have no clue what’s going on, but are sure glad that I did. It’s all about knowing your role and taking care of patients.

Big Hoss
 
privatedds said:
Let me tell you my story.

Graduated 2012. Worked my ass off. Paid all my student loan. Have a practice and own a building. Saved up 3mil and I am making 900k/year working 4.5 days a week.

I am 37 and want to retire by 50 which I should be able to.

Ive always wanted to do OS but coming from a foreign country, my visa status and **** didnt really allow me to apply for any residency out of dental school. And ill be honest, I want to do OS for the income potential. I think once I graduate and work for corporate I can make 1.8M working 4.5 days? (Maybe more if I own a private practice?)

Is it worth selling my office and apply for OS?

By age 50, I should have 10M in todays money. If I quit now and sell my office, I would graduate residency 42 and work 8 years making 8.6M after tax which will put me in 11.6M zone.

Worth it? Sometimes I am up for challenge and sometimes I am scared of wasting my 30s in residency working like a dog. Am I too far in the game?
Click to expand...
you're just bored IMO.. Not worth it... You're killin' it now..
 
Ivy.ch said:
If they could even get in. If a 45-year-old interviewed with us, a lot of eyebrows would be raised, and we would be very suspicious.
Click to expand...

It’s very demanding. I’m not sure if some of you have friends who went to OS residency, but I have 2 friends who did OS from my class. I ran into them at a wedding of another classmate in Toronto last spring. We’re all about the same age.., but both OS guys aged faster than anyone else, specially in their 40’s, specially the one who did the 6 year path. I dont know what exactly they endured from day to day, but it involved far less sleep for anyone’s liking, and it was probably bad enough to cause significant aging. I slept 8 hours in my 30s, still do in my early 40s… most can’t put a price to that. Still, I respect OS residents and the specialty in general. But the training comes at a cost, even though they don’t want to admit it.
 
Cold Front said:
It’s very demanding. I’m not sure if some of you have friends who went to OS residency, but I have 2 friends who did OS from my class. I ran into them at a wedding of another classmate in Toronto last spring. We’re all about the same age.., but both OS guys aged faster than anyone else, specially in their 40’s, specially the one who did the 6 year path. I dont know what exactly they endured from day to day, but it involved far less sleep for anyone’s liking, and it was probably bad enough to cause significant aging. I slept 8 hours in my 30s, still do in my early 40s… most can’t put a price to that. Still, I respect OS residents and the specialty in general. But the training comes at a cost, even though they don’t want to admit it.
Click to expand...

True dat, I went from looking like a high school kid to a grandpa in 6 years.

I have to sleep 12 hours a day for the next 10 years to make up for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Hemingway3132
What Makes a Great OS Extern?
Replies
5
Views
1K
nade0016
nade0016
M
GP going ortho, how to approach residency tuition
Replies
8
Views
2K
gryffindor
G
T
OS Letters of Recommendation
Replies
1
Views
715
IndifferentOsteoblast
IndifferentOsteoblast
Y
Real Production Numbers for Ortho Owners?
Replies
1
Views
787
OncePreDent
OncePreDent
dzmoya
Applying to Ortho after practicing as a GP
Replies
3
Views
2K
Orthomaybe
O
Top