Having been out for close to 5 years, I can offer up some tidbits from the collective experience of myself and friends in the field
Academics - First year expect a salary around 150,000 with benefits including resident coverage of your hospital cases (they do pre and postop stuff, you decide how much you want to cut). Most facilities you don't have sovereign immunity like your neuro colleagues, so be forewarned about increasing rates of liability claims and hospital work such as trauma/orthognathics
private practice in a big city like NYC or Boston- 1st year salary 175,000-225,000 plus benefits like health insurance coverage for the family (can run you upwards of 1000 a month, not cheap), liability insurance coverage (if you're in NYC, expect a first yr premium of around 14 or 15,000), CE reimbursement, etc. Most practices you're doing mostly dentoalveolar, the senior partners will do most of the big implant and jaw cases. you still gotta pay your dues as a first year associate, yes this sucks
corporate - NO ONE gets production WITHOUT a catch. if you need clarification, PM me. expect 40-45% of collections. Not bad if you are doing a bunch of tooth and titanium cases 4-5 days a week and producing 5000/day. allow 90 days for the insurance to kick in and you can except some healthy numbers that get the loans paid for and allows you to buy the wife a nice house
a lot of my colleagues do a little of both... building up their practice in their own office 2-3 days/week while supplementing with corporate or doing some hospital call at 1-5 facilities and getting trauma pay (sometimes 1000/day if you take call at a busy hospital)
or you can do fellowship. I still think about this. financial pressures aside, keeping some subspecialization under your belt is a good thing. in the long run it sets you apart as a clinician.
