Orthodontics vs Periodontics

[2TH MVR]

We've kinda deviated from OP lol

Yeah. Big time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BMEndo]

Sorry to derail the thread. I’ll try keep my responses more on topic.

 

[schmoob]

Me too, sorry folks.

 

[P7898]

Op what are your thoughts?

 

[anonyperson]

I wish I had started my own office a lot sooner. I had waited for 4 years because I thought it would take a long time for a new office start making profit.....I didn't want to downgrade the lifestyle. I set up my first office from scratch in 2006

Don't you think its a much different world for younger orthodontists today than it was in 2006-2010? Are yo confident you could start an office after 2 years and get enough patient volume?

 

[2TH MVR]

Don't you think its a much different world for younger orthodontists today than it was in 2006-2010? Are yo confident you could start an office after 2 years and get enough patient volume?

Yes. It is a different world. I owned my 1st ortho practice in 1994 (partnership leading to buyout). A 2nd start up a few years after that. What I and @charlestweed have been saying is to be DIVERSIFIED. Especially if you want to live and work in a saturated, urban area. Diversification means: 1. Work Corp PT. 2. Work for GPs/Pedos PT. 3. Have a small private practice on the side. But be smart. Don't build this gigantic taj mahal office. Maybe share space with another GP/Specialist. Many specialists would love for you to share space so you can send them referrals. But the key is to have a PRIVATE PRACTICE. That is the only way you will get ahead. As your practice gets busier ... you can lose the Corp/GP/Pedo jobs.
Diversify. Spread the economic risk.

 

[charlestweed]

Don't you think its a much different world for younger orthodontists today than it was in 2006-2010? Are yo confident you could start an office after 2 years and get enough patient volume?

Not that much difference at where I practice (in Southern California). Problems like oversaturation of orthodontists, rapid expansion of corp offices, GPs who do ortho in their practices etc already existed long before I graduated (in the early 2000s). Travelling to work at multiple office is not a new trend. Right after graduation, I traveled to work at 6 different corp offices. Now, I continue to travel to work at 6 offices but the difference between the past and the presence is 4 of these 6 offices are my own and the other 2 are corp offices.

Today new grads are trained differently than when I was trained in the early 2000s. Everything was much simpler during my time. There were no digital x rays, no intra-oral scanner, no 3D printing, no paperless practice management software, no invisalign etc. Therefore, it was much cheaper for me to set up an office from scratch ($120k for everything…construction + equipment + supplies). I didn’t have any problem working at corp offices and GP offices that lack modern equipment . Just give me some brackets and a couple of cheap niti and SS wires and I can turn any ugly smile into a beautiful Hollywood smile. Today new grads cannot work like that. They want modern equipment. They want to attract high income patients so they spend a lot of money (at least $300-400k) to build their 3000+square foot offices (my 1st office was only 1350 sf). And their offices are usually located in high rent area (my offices are located in low income areas). It’s hard to make money when the overhead is so high.

Another difference is today new grads owe a lot more in student loans and this will delay their goal of starting their own offices....of buying a dream home.