Moonlighting?

[PWillis04]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Will the USAF (or any other branch of service) allow AEGD residents to moonlight if they have a license that is accepted in that state? Also, once I become on active duty, will I be allowed to moonlight?

Thanks.

 

[Truedat]

Allow you......?????? Hmm, maybe not. But whats to stop you. My friend did it during his AF AEGD and during his military dentistry payback time. He never had any repercussions. I plan to do it also.

 

[dheav005]

thats a classy, military approach to take, truedat.

this topic has been addressed around here before. it seems to be different from command to command, but mostly first year residents or non-residents on their credentialing tour are not allowed to moonlight. i know my AEGD is work enough...trying to moonlight and make enough money to cover another state dental license, a personal DEA number, and liablity insurance just to pocket a little more each month would not be worth it to me. especially since it was made abundantly clear that stepping outside the clinic to practice without command permission was a serious no-no.

 

[Midoc]

thats a classy, military approach to take, truedat.

this topic has been addressed around here before. it seems to be different from command to command, but mostly first year residents or non-residents on their credentialing tour are not allowed to moonlight. i know my AEGD is work enough...trying to moonlight and make enough money to cover another state dental license, a personal DEA number, and liablity insurance just to pocket a little more each month would not be worth it to me. especially since it was made abundantly clear that stepping outside the clinic to practice without command permission was a serious no-no.

The first part of this is true.

Moonlighting can be a very rewarding and lucrative thing to do but going in and planning on breaking rules and regulations isn't real cool.

As far as the second part about making enough money to cover licensing costs, insurance and all that I would have to dispute. You would probably make that all back in the first or second shift you worked. I know many dentists who moonlight 4-6 days a month and are able to equal the base pay the get from the military for the rest of the month they work.

To the OP, as far as I know, moonlighting during any AEGD in the military as a definite NOGO.

 

[Truedat]

Sorry to offend anyone or to act "UNclassy" in any way shape or form. My comment came out wrong, it was suppose to have a sarcastic ring to it but looking back at it; it has nothing of the tone it just sounds like I am being a smart a$$. Also you shouldn't so quick to point a finger thats just not nice
Anyway, like you said DHEAV05 stepping outside the clinic w/o permission is a huge no/no rule breakers are not tolerated nor promoted. But if permission is given why not? I would never in a million years break the rules and have the military come down on me or jeopardize my career in any way. That is like the idiots that cheat in school and hope not to get caught, it's a lose/lose situation. But if it's allowed why not go make the extra cash??
This last year I visited three separate bases (2 AF, 1 army (my uncle is stationed at an army base so I went to check it out)) checking out specialties with the AF and the AEGD's. I was told I was able to moonlight and they didn't care what you did with your free time. As long as it didn't taint the military in any way, and didn't interfere with military dentistry. Maybe they misinterpreted me or were simply talking about after AEGD, which is a real possibility considering what MIDOC said.

If it is not allowed during AEGD thats fine, there is plenty of time after. Will you guys moonlight during your military time??

My good friend just finished with the AF (Now he is in a civilian pedo residency) and payed all of his loans and made a good chunk of change from moonlighting. He said he made an extra 2-6k per month moonlighting 1-3 saturdays a month. The military was fine with it. I had a couple of mentors that were also previous military dentists, that mentioned that moonlighting was the way to go make extra cash b/c being a military dentist doesn't pay all that much and the loans you took out to cover living expense and a hefty interest rate.

Also you don't always have to pay for your own state dental license, a personal DEA number, and liablity insurance. The dentist you practice with may pick up theses expenses for you (my above mentioned friend got his covered) because he brought a lot of extra revenue to the practice.

 

[UNR.Grad]

Truedat,

Did you do the HPSP or did your friend, I'm curious what loans you two had to pay off. Thanks for your insight and what did you end up doing?

 

[Truedat]

Truedat,

Did you do the HPSP or did your friend, I'm curious what loans you two had to pay off. Thanks for your insight and what did you end up doing?

Two of my friends did the HPSP through the air force. One is now in pedo residency at Temple and the other is in Oral surgery residency in Texas. I am also in the HPSP program as are 5 or 6 others in my class. I applied for the 3 year HPSP scholarship. I didn't make the deadline for the 4 year scholarship before I entered Dental school because I started the application cycle late so I got it my first year in dental school. I had to pay the first year of dental school and we also bought a fairly nice house as an investment project (my wife and I). So we took out the usual stafford loans, grad plus loans (that are offered through the school), and if we were out of cash we pulled out private loans to get us through till the next time we got our loans from the school.
For a family the stipend from the military is quite nice (actually it is a lot better than it use to be, 1900 this coming july) but it is not enough to cover all the bases (especially when our mortgage isn't exactly cheap). So you might pull out stafford loans to cover extra living expenses or insurance if your school doesn't require it. But if you are single with 1900 dollars a month and the military paying for your school you might come out of school with practically nothing to pay for. Like my class mate, he makes about 100$ a month from his stipend after paying for every bill he has.

 

[UNR.Grad]

Thanks for the info! Why did they decide to do residencies outside of the air force? Did they have a stronger app. because they did serve for 4 years before matching?

 

[Truedat]

One is with the air force (oral surgery), and of course the other isn't. The guy doing pedo outside the AF just wanted to move on and was sick of some of the beaurocracy (thats just inherint in the military) and wanted to go make some real money instead of staying in the AF a couple more years. But he said it was the best thing for him, he learned and performed many procedures and tried new things that might have been limited in other places.

 

[HawkeyeDDS]

"rule breakers are not tolerated nor promoted. "

The sad truth is Yes they are. You will be promoted to Major at 6 years regardless of how good or bad you are. The laziest piece of crap gets promoted/paid just the same as the top dog. Welcome to socialized medicine.

 

[Truedat]

"rule breakers are not tolerated nor promoted. "

The sad truth is Yes they are. You will be promoted to Major at 6 years regardless of how good or bad you are. The laziest piece of crap gets promoted/paid just the same as the top dog. Welcome to socialized medicine.

Well if it makes you feel any better, going higher than a major (Lt. colonel) is at least more challenging to get promoted. While achieving the full bird Colonel is actually pretty difficult from what I understand.

 

[SNOZBERRIES]

"rule breakers are not tolerated nor promoted. "

The sad truth is Yes they are. You will be promoted to Major at 6 years regardless of how good or bad you are. The laziest piece of crap gets promoted/paid just the same as the top dog. Welcome to socialized medicine.

HA! Beautiful! I couldn't of said it any better myself.

I just had this conversation today with some of my old AEGD mates. the AF board was 81% Lt Col to Col last year. I think you have to be a communist with a criminal record not to get promoted.

 

[HawkeyeDDS]

We had a meeting with our regional commander yesterday, he said in the Army by 2009 there will be 179 Col's retiring. There are only 900ish dentists. As long as you have a pulse, or as he put it "you can find your butt with both hands" you will make O-6, most likely by 18 years. Sorry dude, it's the truth.👍