Is it possible to work for a corp or private office 3 days a week?

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drornot

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I was looking to work essentially 3 days on 4 days off. Is this possible? Could I possibly do 3 10-12 hour shifts as a dentist working for a corp or private office as an associate? Is this something that needs to be negotiated?

If you have personal experiences with this please let me know!

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Everything is possible if you're willing to be flexible. You'll probably have to compromise on other factors if you're going to be this strict. Probably be given the worst days to work/worst days off, lower pay/ less benefits, etc.

You're asking a lot of questions (which is OKAY). If those dentists told you dentistry is bad then ask them to show your their pay checks (I bet you they won't because they're raking it in and are just pessimistic). Ignore anyone not willing to backup their claims. They're not obligated to show you what they make but if they say "reimbursements are down these days" but netting $2k/day then ignore and move on

As a premed an EM doc where I volunteered told me "I regret doing medicine so I advise you not to do it" literally 5 minutes after he was bragging to me about the fancy cars he owns. He worked approximately 12 12hr shifts/mo, 1 month off for $450k a year. He drove 50 min to work one way (no traffic). He was from my hometown and if he worked there he would have made only $350k with a 20 minute commute that becomes 50 min in traffic. So he had it REALLY good but still complained...

Point is, doctors are humans. Humans love to complain whether they have it good or bad. Explore the field more and decide for yourself if its something you want to do. One thing that is fact is that dentistry is a whole lot less stressful and much more flexible than medicine. It's about as good as it gets unless you're a prodigy that can command $150k in tech straight out of undergrad or if your dad is a Fortune 500 CEO and can get you a cush job

We have EM alumni from my school that work 4-6 days/month for $150-$200k. Some work/teach etc. Obviously more clinical time = more $$ but everything is negotiable if you're willing to make compromises
Thank you for the reply! I think what is ideal for me is to work 4 days a week. I don’t have a desire to open a practice, at least not right now, but I would like to spend that extra day off working on a side hustle that I’m very passionate about, spending time with my family, traveling, or just resting if the body wants it. How attainable is a 4 day work week as an associate. Do you still get benefits? Do you still accumulate PTO? And what can you expect as far as compensation?

I agree with you. Dentists have it much better than most if they can keep their debt burden low and/of pay off student loans quickly. My plan is to pay off debt quick to live that 4 day a week lifestyle as an associate dentist.
 
You 'can' do anything, hell work 1 day a month if you want. Just have to live with the consequences.

Many new grad associates have multiple jobs working 2 days/week at two places for 4 days.

If you work 3 days/week as a new grad making 500$/day, its 1500 per week, so you are making 6k/month. After taxes, student loans etc, you may or may not be able to make rent and likely will have a worse lifestyle than when you were in DS. But if you have no loans, and live cheaply you could make this work for sure. Once you get more experienced, you can do traveling specialty work, make 2-3k/day. Pop in once a month do all the 3rd molars, complex endo, implants. But you will need time to develop that skillset and not as a new grad.
 
Thank you for the reply! I think what is ideal for me is to work 4 days a week. I don’t have a desire to open a practice, at least not right now, but I would like to spend that extra day off working on a side hustle that I’m very passionate about, spending time with my family, traveling, or just resting if the body wants it. How attainable is a 4 day work week as an associate. Do you still get benefits? Do you still accumulate PTO? And what can you expect as far as compensation?

I agree with you. Dentists have it much better than most if they can keep their debt burden low and/of pay off student loans quickly. My plan is to pay off debt quick to live that 4 day a week lifestyle as an associate dentist.
The DSO where I work ... you have to work a minimum of 4 days in order to be eligible for their group health insurance. Not sure about the other benefits.
Like others have mentioned. Do what you want. It's your life. If you can service your debts on 4 days. Great.
Most people usually like to work hard early on to get ahead. Goal should be financial independence in your later years.
 
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