Jumping into private practise after grad
Started by pbure
It's possible, just very difficult. You need financing for space, equipment, supplies, utilities, licensure, salaries, taxes, and to pay all bills for 4-6 months minimum while getting established. Buy an existing practice and most of it comes under a single loan. Most of the professors at my school say not to do it - we don't know enough to run a practice. Some people do it anyway. I haven't heard any serious success stories, just lots of bills and hard times.
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There is no right or wrong way. And many times what percentage of people go directly into private practice will very by what school one graduates from. Some grads (in general a minority percentage) will go right into private practice, and do quite welll from day 1. Other who go directly into private practice may find, especially on the business side of things, the learning curve to be quite steep, and some may never full grasp it. Then exact same thing can be said for those doing a residency 1st and then going into private practice.
So much of one's success and/or failure is based on that persons individual drive/personality. And if oen is just expecting to either walk right out of d-school or right out of residency and into a smoothly running, highly profitable practice of their own with minimal efforts, then more than likely that person is in for a rude awakening. Eventually it may not be that difficult to have that, but it's often not that easy to get right away, once YOU find out what does/doesn't work for you, the type of practice you want/have and the area that you practice in.
For example, in my practice, I did a GPR after d-school and thought it was the best thing FOR ME. My business partner went right from d-school into private practice and thought it was the best thing for him! (and BTW we both graduated from the same d-school close enough to the same class year that we had most of the same faculty teaching us!) To each and evry their own!
So much of one's success and/or failure is based on that persons individual drive/personality. And if oen is just expecting to either walk right out of d-school or right out of residency and into a smoothly running, highly profitable practice of their own with minimal efforts, then more than likely that person is in for a rude awakening. Eventually it may not be that difficult to have that, but it's often not that easy to get right away, once YOU find out what does/doesn't work for you, the type of practice you want/have and the area that you practice in.
For example, in my practice, I did a GPR after d-school and thought it was the best thing FOR ME. My business partner went right from d-school into private practice and thought it was the best thing for him! (and BTW we both graduated from the same d-school close enough to the same class year that we had most of the same faculty teaching us!) To each and evry their own!
Thanks for the new avatar props! I worked my butt off to get that thing! And in retrospect, my just over 3 and a half hours that it took me to finish the Tough Mudder course at Mount Snow, VT last Saturday almost took me back through 4 years of d-school emotions (anxiety, pain, anger, frustration, hope, dispair, and finally elation) 😀
I should have specified..I wasn't referring to owning your own practice fresh out of school. Rather I was thinking along the lines of searching for a fair associate contract and then staying that course for a few years before your confidence and speed increased.
I was curious if dentists might look down on new grads who opt not to do a GPR and assume they are cocky or just wet around the ears for opting not to apply to any post-grad training programs
I was curious if dentists might look down on new grads who opt not to do a GPR and assume they are cocky or just wet around the ears for opting not to apply to any post-grad training programs
My perspective as a managing partner of a small PPO/FFS "traditional" if you will, office in California.
I would only hire a new grad if I ran a volume-driven or pediatric-heavy office. Having said that, I look at someone who is fresh out of residency in just about the same light as someone who is fresh out of school. Though if it came down to two candidates I would pick the residency trained dentist hands down 100% of the time.
If you're looking for a "fair associate contract", you should definitely know what you might get. Geographic location plays a huge part. By bringing on an associate the hiring office takes on a pretty significant burden, cost, and risk.
Like phremius suggested, it depends on the hiring doc. I've been told that I'll never get a job after my GPR because residencies are only for those who are too weak clinically to go into practice after graduating. Obviously this was by a grumpy old-timer who I wouldn't want to practice with anyway, but it shows you the range of opinions out there...
You have to do what you feel is right for you. If you think hitting the real world without a residency is the type of practitioner you want to be then by all means go for it! You'll find someone out there who will share that philosophy and will hire you.
I don't believe thats true. I graduated in the era of the wet-fingered dentist and started a practice from scratch in a small mid-west city.
Thirty years later now that I am contemplating slowing down and retiring (dentistry has been good to me). I would consider a new grad
with decent clinical skills, an outgoing personality, a desire to become
established in the community and a goal of providing dental care to
a wide variety of patients as a desirable associate, partner and eventual
replacement.
