With you being a dental resident I would be interested in your opinions on the future of the dental specialities. Any thoughts?
You can only rely on the actual data we have, which says that on average every dental specialty makes more money than general dentistry. There are a zillion exceptions, of course. Resident board legend Gary_Ruska once described it this way:
"Gary "Stay away from my 1040" Ruska here,
Here are some more recent numbers, (c) ADA 2006 (income survey from 2005), for full-time practitioners (1600 hours or more/year)
1. OMFS: $408,570 for 1920 hours/year
2. Endo: $362,700 for 1824 hours/year
3. Pedo: $337,800 for 1728 hours/year
4. Ortho: $309,970 for 1728 hours/year
5. Perio: $295,630 for 1824 hours/year
6. Prosth: $232,310 for 1920 hours/year
7. General: $210,280 for 1728 hours/year
Hourly income (estimated):
1. OMFS: $213
2. Endo: $199
3. Pedo: $195
4. Ortho: $179
5. Perio: $162
6. Prosth: $121
7. General: $122
Source: ADA surveys, Income from the Private Practice of Dentistry. (c) 2006, American Dental Association, Chicago, IL.
If you comment on this, please remember/do the following:
1. These numbers are for private practitioners, not researchers or academics.
2. These numbers are for full-time practitioners, not once-a-week people.
3. These number represent averages and, as such, you may know someone who makes much, much, much more or much, much, much less. GR (and most everyone else on this board for that matter) doesn't care about this orthodontist you know who makes $100 million dollars a year (pinky to upper lip).
4. If you want to debate these data, provide a source such that your description does not resemble the Dark Helmet monologue to Lonestar in Spaceballs.
5. Listen to the Bob Dylan song "The Times They Are A'Changin'" --> dentistry is, economically speaking, where medicine was 25 years ago. History is going to repeat itself real soon. For a sneak peak, look at medicine circa 1994 - present.
How do these numbers compare to medicine? Who cares. You're a dentist and will likely make more the 95% of the US population (even after the implementation of Obamacare or whatever the end-product is called). Be happy and study hard."