Part time prosth possible?

[Pike]

Hello,

My wife has been considering doing prosth, but is somewhat hesitant secondary to family planning concerns. Because she wants to be very involved with raising our theoretical kids she anticipates wanting to work only about 2 days a week for the first 8-10 years of her professional career until our children are all in school. Then probably school hours after that. Is this realistic for prosth - or just general dentistry? Would this require living in a large metropolitan area? Do prosthodontists work together in the same practice or take on associates? Or is the solo practice, for example, the vastly dominant practice modality for prosth?

Regarding overhead - does the high overhead make it more difficult if not nearly impossible to work part time? (i.e. it's necessary to work full time just to overcome the high overhead costs) Or is it the case that the overhead and income are more linear - making it such that it would be realistic to work less with proportionately less income.

Any thoughts or info will help - as we're facing some deadlines and need to make some big decisions.

thanks

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[drhobie7]

Not sure about pros, but you could easily do 2 days/week as a GP. I know a guy 5 years out who's in a different office 4 days of the week, making ~$1500/day. I don't know if she could have her own practice and work 2 says a week. Rent could become burdensome.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hello,

My wife has been considering doing prosth, but is somewhat hesitant secondary to family planning concerns. Because she wants to be very involved with raising our theoretical kids she anticipates wanting to work only about 2 days a week for the first 8-10 years of her professional career until our children are all in school. Then probably school hours after that. Is this realistic for prosth - or just general dentistry? Would this require living in a large metropolitan area? Do prosthodontists work together in the same practice or take on associates? Or is the solo practice, for example, the vastly dominant practice modality for prosth?

Regarding overhead - does the high overhead make it more difficult if not nearly impossible to work part time? (i.e. it's necessary to work full time just to overcome the high overhead costs) Or is it the case that the overhead and income are more linear - making it such that it would be realistic to work less with proportionately less income.

Any thoughts or info will help - as we're facing some deadlines and need to make some big decisions.

thanks

As a dentist either a GP or specialist, you can choose your own hours and that is one nice thing about being a dentist. However, if you plan to do big pros cases, patients don't want to wait too long between visits so you may have to limit cases that are simpler or take less patients. Nobody wants to undergo 2 years for a full mouth rehab. The other thing is that raising a family while doing pros. residency is tough unless one partner is willing to do the parenting while the other is in school. Late nights at the lab is expected. DP

 

[Pike]

Thanks for your comments. We know prosth residency is busy (and i'm going to be a medical resident myself), so the family planning side of things would likely not start until relatively soon after prosth training. Private practice for prosth, if at all, ,would likely be 10 years down the road following training. This is why we're wondering about part time opportunities in the intervening decade. i know i threw out a lot of questions in that first email. Any thoughts specifically regarding opportunities to work as a prosthodontist as an associate in someone else's prosth practice? Dr. Phan i guess you kind of addressed this question in saying that specialists can pick their own hours, but i guess the more specific info i'm curious about is in what kinds of contexts is it possible for a non-practice owning prosthodontist to work part time?

Thanks

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Thanks for your comments. We know prosth residency is busy (and i'm going to be a medical resident myself), so the family planning side of things would likely not start until relatively soon after prosth training. Private practice for prosth, if at all, ,would likely be 10 years down the road following training. This is why we're wondering about part time opportunities in the intervening decade. i know i threw out a lot of questions in that first email. Any thoughts specifically regarding opportunities to work as a prosthodontist as an associate in someone else's prosth practice? Dr. Phan i guess you kind of addressed this question in saying that specialists can pick their own hours, but i guess the more specific info i'm curious about is in what kinds of contexts is it possible for a non-practice owning prosthodontist to work part time?

Thanks

Opportunities are there but you have to find them as some places would want full time staff and others may need you couple days a week. I am sure you can find places for part timers without problems. DP