Lowest Dental Salary

[ShanteUStay]

Let's be real...aside from the great perks of dentistry...the salary is a HUGE bonus. However, what are some of the lowest salaries you all have heard for an established dentist and where?

I shadowed at a peds office that was crazy huge. The dental assistant told me that they banked $70,000 A WEEK and saw about 100 kids a day. However, I got the impression that some of the dentists were making like $90,000...ouch. Seems low for such a high volume. The practice had about 15 DDS/DMD in the group.

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[The Tooth Dr]

70k a week... crazy!

 

[nameanthony]

Give me that job.

 

[timmytim]

70k for 15 dds peds office isn't that crazy

 

[ShanteUStay]

YES! This is first hand knowledge. The office has a call center, a special needs dentist, 3 sedation rooms, 12 ops, x-ray area, over head operators, and about 7 different languages can be translated or maybe more. They have 7 different forms that appeal to the various languages. That's just ONE office. I believe he has 3 locations total with a staff well over 150. I am not sure what the other offices make. This is in Metro Atlanta.

 

[timmytim]

sounds like 70k is a minumum they need to generate to keep the office afloat

 

[ShanteUStay]

That is the minimum. She was being conservative with the numbers.

 

[timmytim]

and people think 70k is a lot...smh

doyouevenbusiness?

 

[ShanteUStay]

Well Timmy what do you consider to be a lot of money? $70,000 sounds excellent to me.

 

[Shazzam]

When you say banked, do you mean they net 70k? If so, that's a pretty nice salary.

 

[mid]

70k after overhead, materials, staff salaries, etc with 15 dentists is not a lot.

 

[ShanteUStay]

I mean that the practice collects over $70,000 a week in treatment monies. Thats's just one office and conservative. I would say over summer it is probably $100,000 PER A WEEK.

 

[Shazzam]

Its actually not that much at all. After overhead/taxes you're probably looking at a sub 90k salary.

 

[yappy]

I've heard that for some dentists their starting salary can be lower because they're not as fast as experienced dentists or don't have the patient volume to make a substantial amount of money.

Dentistry is a very unique profession in that you eat what you kill (in most settings). If your payment is based on a percentage of collections then your income will depend on what you're treating and how many patients you've treated. In my area there is often a daily minimum for showing up; however, it is hopefully exceeded by your production.

With that being said I spoke with a new grad dentist who made ~80k his first year. That is not the greatest salary; but, consider that he ate what he killed. He didn't have to kill himself to earn that 80k because he didn't have a lot of work to do; hence, his lower income. He literally worked 3-4 days a week and told me that for many days he wasn't that busy in that associate position. I've stayed in contact and he told me that this year is going to do much better as his patient base has grown.

I think the biggest challenge in dentistry, from our perspective, is the first few years after graduation before an office or patient base is established. How will you go from new grad (point-A) to established dentist with an office or associate with a large patient base (point B). I feel like if you can figure that out you're on the road to success in dentistry.

 

[ShanteUStay]

Thanks Yappy. Everyone else, that's my point. $100,000 should be a lot of money in dentistry per a week, but that is nothing because of the doggone overhead. Is there anyway to minimize this effectively without cutting corners?

 

[Shazzam]

Thanks Yappy. Everyone else, that's my point. $100,000 should be a lot of money in dentistry per a week, but that is nothing because of the doggone overhead. Is there anyway to minimize this effectively without cutting corners?

I think you're being blinded by the 100k figure. 100k for 15 dentists is not impressive by any means. A solo GP (not a specialist such as the peds office) could easily out earn each individual working at this mega practice by himself. Overhead is something that can fluctuate but unless you're doing something incredibly stupid, you can't mess with it much. It's too case by case to give you a blanket statement.

 

[dentalWorks]

shoot... if theyr seeing 100 kid a day, they better be making 70k a week

 

[angiep123]

I've worked in dentistry for about 10 years. It really depends on overhead. Overhead in dentistry is huge. The average is about 76% overhead, if I remember correctly.

 

[caring88]

Hi guys. Just a quick question.
What is an overhead? lol I'm really ignorant in this matter...

 

[angiep123]

Overhead is everything it costs to make your office run. So that would be supplies, salaries, equipment, lab costs, etc. You will find it can be extremely expensive.

 

[Cello]

I talked to an old friend of mine yesterday who does payroll for his uncle's pediatric clinics and surgical center. He said one of the 2nd year associates took home $312,000 last year!

 

[angiep123]

I talked to an old friend of mine yesterday who does payroll for his uncle's pediatric clinics and surgical center. He said one of the 2nd year associates took home $312,000 last year!

That's incredible!! There was a guy from a pedo office that came by my office and he said that they are trying to recruit pedodontists like crazy because there is a shortage of them!

 

[diasIItema]

I've worked in dentistry for about 10 years. It really depends on overhead. Overhead in dentistry is huge. The average is about 76% overhead, if I remember correctly.

Should be closer to 60% if you know how to effectively run a dental practice

 

[dantemac]

Myth #1: Dentists keep 100% of their collections (Some is always lost because medicaid and insurance are shi--y reimbursers)
Myth #2: Overhead will be kept very low. (From Hamer's threads on owning a dental practice, you are looking at high overhead in the absence of great business skills)

Collecting income numbers from dentists and specialists is useless unless it is the form on a contract. Manage your own debt and your own future.