Pre Dents: How much debt will you take?

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D1Bound

D1Bound

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Let’s start a discussion. How much dental school debt would stop you from deciding to pursue a career in dentistry? Yes, I said that right. How much debt would prevent you from following your dream to become a dentist? At the end of the day, numbers matter. Let’s hear your number.
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D1Bound said:
Let’s start a discussion. How much dental school debt would stop you from deciding to pursue a career in dentistry? Yes, I said that right. How much debt would prevent you from following your dream to become a dentist? At the end of the day, numbers matter. Let’s hear your number.
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I think I’ve heard somewhere in the ballpark of 350-375k would be my number. Fortunately I got the school that is about right in the middle of that. Ultimately I would have drawn the line at $420k being my absolute maximum.
 
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Planning to be in state but still expect to end up with about 350-400K by the end unless I receive scholarships. Out of state I'd pray for less than 500 but who knows if that's pheasible anymore. Wouldn't want more than that.
 
NavyBlueSuit said:
Planning to be in state but still expect to end up with about 350-400K by the end unless I receive scholarships. Out of state I'd pray for less than 500 but who knows if that's pheasible anymore. Wouldn't want more than that.
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Sounds rough. What’s your plan for after graduation?
 
D1Bound said:
so what’s your plan after you graduate? What will your life look at?
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Fortunately I got into a cheaper school so I'm not paying that much. My post-grad plans would involve functioning as both a businessman and a dentist, not just as a dentist who has a business. I'd live like a student till I got that debt down to a comfortable amount and would practice in a rural area as long as I felt the need to.
 
After 4 years of interest I would prefer it to be under 450k. My general plan is to move into a state with lower/no income tax, go for a repayment plan. Then do whatever math I need to to figure out how much I'll need to put in a savings account for this infamous tax bomb in 20ish years. Problem is that you simply can't make enough cash as an entry dentist to curb interest alone.
 
Do a GPR if deemed necessary then start a rural practice. I grew up rural(town of 300) and there is plenty of need away from the cities here. My school of choice actually focuses on these areas so I feel like I could learn a lot from them before finding a place to open. Will start school later than most so I plan to continue working hard. Have spent a lot of time working multiple jobs including last semester when I was working two jobs during fulltime school so we'l see how it translates.
D1Bound said:
Sounds rough. What’s your plan for after graduation?
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I would love to hear what sdn thinks about the tech layoffs. I have friends that went from cush to 0 income very fast. It's stressing them out pretty bad.
 
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Mr.Smile12 said:
For many years, I advised the powers that be to keep the total tuition at or below 400K or 100K per year. Not adjusted for inflation.
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It will not end well for dental educators. Eventually the culture around applying to dental school will be looked down upon as the word gets out about the potential debt burden. Schools will be closing their doors left and right.
 
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My school will cost me 320k max. Hopefully I can get in state somehow, but I’m really happy I got into an public OOS school since I didn’t have an IS school of my own.
 
D1Bound said:
It will not end well for dental educators. Eventually the culture around applying to dental school will be looked down upon as the word gets out about the potential debt burden. Schools will be closing their doors left and right.
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Highly doubt this. Its a business. With everything there are still a handful of schools under construction and will be opening soon. ADEA and ADA will put their seal of approval on it and provide accreditation to them. Predental students need to start making some noise on this topic. Call ADA and ADEA and demand answers...obviously we can't go without graduating new dentists but the system needs to change.
 
Maybe a function of income? 2x projected annual income after 5 years of practicing? And with the proposed REPAYE modifications, it could increase the student debt ceiling.
 
askadds said:
Highly doubt this. Its a business. With everything there are still a handful of schools under construction and will be opening soon. ADEA and ADA will put their seal of approval on it and provide accreditation to them. Predental students need to start making some noise on this topic. Call ADA and ADEA and demand answers...obviously we can't go without graduating new dentists but the system needs to change.
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Everyone has a price. Students will stop applying just like pharmacy school
 
D1Bound said:
Let’s start a discussion. How much dental school debt would stop you from deciding to pursue a career in dentistry? Yes, I said that right. How much debt would prevent you from following your dream to become a dentist? At the end of the day, numbers matter. Let’s hear your number.
Click to expand...

Traditionally rule of thumb was that total debt should not exceed expect starting income after training is complete (so for medicine this would be income year 1 as a new attending). Given trajectory of tuition, this may be hard to achieve these days.

Advantage that a dentist has over physicians is that cash only is not unheard of, though easier in certain areas. On the down side I am seeing more and more private equity/corporatization of the field.
 
Bigjt1420 said:
Phew, thank goodness I applied 6 years ago!
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Haha same here, around this time exactly 6 years ago (2/2017) I got my dental school acceptance. So glad I am not applying now considering how costs have been steadily increasing every year...
 
400k all in (COA and taking into account interest accrual) is the price of my public in state. Hoping to all hell my interview results come out favorably.

Currently deposited at BostonU, OOS for me, and my all in figures are running at 525k with COA and interest accrual. Obviously not favorable.

Already coming in with 50k ug and 50k SMP debt. In my best case scenario this would be 500k all in at my public in state. 630k if Boston.

My top dollar number before even applying was 700k but I can’t beleive that’s actually being a stark reality. Your jaw may have dropped already, but I can confirm a colleague with 60k private UG + 85k SMP debt who will be matriculating at ASDOH, a 650k price tag alone. It is INSANE out here.

FWIW without the SMP I wouldn’t even be in a position to be able to pursue my oral health dreams. So to say I have too much debt coming in, well there was no alternative.

With 100k under my belt in loans already, and useless degrees outside of health professional school, my only other option is to eat the 100k and do what? Teach highschool science? Take part in the corporate rat race as a career changer towards tech? In this interest rate enviorment, surely tech firms would love to hire a completley unqualified former predent. I heard healthcare consulting LOVES non-harvard Yale Princeton pedigrees!! Or, I should just go for nursing or PA right, ezpz chill respected life!! Considering I entered this game to escape a future in pharmacy, maybe I should suck it up and just go back. ? Ok since I love science so much, why not work in a lab and grind my way towards a PhD? How fun!!

No. I’ll try to stay under 500k total debt. If I get my instate to take me, I’ll even live with my parents and they’ll support my living needs as they have been. I’m a single male in my 20s, I’ll get down right ratty to keep the debt low.

I agree with everyone in this thread, that with increasing tuition rates further, which has been reliably the case for the past decade, there will absolutely be a stigma to applying to dental school, and absolutely will hurt the economics of pumping out new schools so the institutional cycle will go through another boom and bust, but ultimately a bust would be a net benefit for practicing dentists, if we are solely focusing on the idea that more dentists is more competition, which means lower quality of life for everyone . Surely there are other factors, but economics 101 tells me this might be a big one.

But unfortunately (or not depending on the dice roll associated with the life being a GP deals me), I’m gonna have to service this debt and eat whatever hard times come my way. This is the reality of 2023 tuition rates. It’s like the black hole of sunk cost fallacies, I am on a one-way ride with no going back. Sort of exciting? Mostly terrifying. Thousands of pre-dental students across the country have this running through their head.

There are absolute silver linings however…If we want to provide some confirmation bias that the grass is indeed, not greener on the other side. Friends in tech and high finance, are each day, legitimately worried about the rise of AI. Friend in fintech said their dev desk is already planning on shedding some heads due to tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Co Pilot (these things are literally writing better code than their well pedigreed, highly educated humans). Let’s not forget the massive amount of useless white collar jobs especially administrative that should all rightfully be worried right now. I’d rather be a dentist with massive debt if AI keeps improving at its current trajectory. Very real stuff and I agree this paragraph even just a few years ago would have made me sound like a total nut. Times are changing, and I would feel safer as a dentist than a radiologist.

On this subject matter, let’s consider the impact of ChatGPT on just education alone. Personally I’ve used it extensively when it first dropped. All those extremely hard to grasp anatomical relationships in the pterygopalatine fossa suddenly explained like I’m five via ChatGPT. Just feeding it research papers and it explains the abstract methodologies and findings at the level it assumes I already understand. As I speak, it is helping me finish my prep my clinical anatomy presentation on subdural and epidural hematomas tomorrow. I finished my slides In 2 hrs it took my classmate with a 4.0 6 hrs. Full stop, admissions is about to be even more competitive. No better time to be a dental student with difficult didactic courses.

This is a hell of a tangent but all of this supports the notion that there are many variables in life. People like me hope that I have my own unique skill sets I may be able to leverage in order to service my debt and make the big bucks.

The ultimate cope I will conclude with, is that even in the worst case scenario with soul crushing debt, the title of being a dentist should net me some perks in finding some joy in life, financial or not. Hey Ill need to find myself a wife somehow!
 
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Slueman33 said:
400k all in (COA and taking into account interest accrual) is the price of my public in state. Hoping to all hell my interview results come out favorably.

Currently deposited at BostonU, OOS for me, and my all in figures are running at 525k with COA and interest accrual. Obviously not favorable.

Already coming in with 50k ug and 50k SMP debt. In my best case scenario this would be 500k all in at my public in state. 630k if Boston.

My top dollar number before even applying was 700k but I can’t beleive that’s actually being a stark reality. Your jaw may have dropped already, but I can confirm a colleague with 60k private UG + 85k SMP debt who will be matriculating at ASDOH, a 650k price tag alone. It is INSANE out here.

FWIW without the SMP I wouldn’t even be in a position to be able to pursue my oral health dreams. So to say I have too much debt coming in, well there was no alternative.

With 100k under my belt in loans already, and useless degrees outside of health professional school, my only other option is to eat the 100k and do what? Teach highschool science? Take part in the corporate rat race as a career changer towards tech? In this interest rate enviorment, surely tech firms would love to hire a completley unqualified former predent. I heard healthcare consulting LOVES non-harvard Yale Princeton pedigrees!! Or, I should just go for nursing or PA right, ezpz chill respected life!! Considering I entered this game to escape a future in pharmacy, maybe I should suck it up and just go back. ? Ok since I love science so much, why not work in a lab and grind my way towards a PhD? How fun!!

No. I’ll try to stay under 500k total debt. If I get my instate to take me, I’ll even live with my parents and they’ll support my living needs as they have been. I’m a single male in my 20s, I’ll get down right ratty to keep the debt low.

I agree with everyone in this thread, that with increasing tuition rates further, which has been reliably the case for the past decade, there will absolutely be a stigma to applying to dental school, and absolutely will hurt the economics of pumping out new schools so the institutional cycle will go through another boom and bust, but ultimately a bust would be a net benefit for practicing dentists, if we are solely focusing on the idea that more dentists is more competition, which means lower quality of life for everyone . Surely there are other factors, but economics 101 tells me this might be a big one.

But unfortunately (or not depending on the dice roll associated with the life being a GP deals me), I’m gonna have to service this debt and eat whatever hard times come my way. This is the reality of 2023 tuition rates. It’s like the black hole of sunk cost fallacies, I am on a one-way ride with no going back. Sort of exciting? Mostly terrifying. Thousands of pre-dental students across the country have this running through their head.

There are absolute silver linings however…If we want to provide some confirmation bias that the grass is indeed, not greener on the other side. Friends in tech and high finance, are each day, legitimately worried about the rise of AI. Friend in fintech said their dev desk is already planning on shedding some heads due to tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Co Pilot (these things are literally writing better code than their well pedigreed, highly educated humans). Let’s not forget the massive amount of useless white collar jobs especially administrative that should all rightfully be worried right now. I’d rather be a dentist with massive debt if AI keeps improving at its current trajectory. Very real stuff and I agree this paragraph even just a few years ago would have made me sound like a total nut. Times are changing, and I would feel safer as a dentist than a radiologist.

On this subject matter, let’s consider the impact of ChatGPT on just education alone. Personally I’ve used it extensively when it first dropped. All those extremely hard to grasp anatomical relationships in the pterygopalatine fossa suddenly explained like I’m five via ChatGPT. Just feeding it research papers and it explains the abstract methodologies and findings at the level it assumes I already understand. As I speak, it is helping me finish my prep my clinical anatomy presentation on subdural and epidural hematomas tomorrow. I finished my slides In 2 hrs it took my classmate with a 4.0 6 hrs. Full stop, admissions is about to be even more competitive. No better time to be a dental student with difficult didactic courses.

This is a hell of a tangent but all of this supports the notion that there are many variables in life. People like me hope that I have my own unique skill sets I may be able to leverage in order to service my debt and make the big bucks.

The ultimate cope I will conclude with, is that even in the worst case scenario with soul crushing debt, the title of being a dentist should net me some perks in finding some joy in life, financial or not. Hey Ill need to find myself a wife somehow!
Click to expand...
It sounds like you’ve thought about this. Where in rural America do you plan to work? Or will you be contacting recruiters to apply for a 3 year HPSP scholarship?
 
I have a real good friend that works as a regional manager to a major bank. He tells me they are hiring bank managers, essentially a teller that has been in the company for a few year and understands the bank operation, for about 100k a year with benefits. Lets let that sink in for a minute. 100k with benefits for someone with zero education. cough cough
 
D1Bound said:
It sounds like you’ve thought about this. Where in rural America do you plan to work? Or will you be contacting recruiters to apply for a 3 year HPSP scholarship?
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Deffinitley want to pursue a HPSP scholarship. Would give my soul to the gov if it meant forgiving loans. Just don’t know where to start, or if it’s too late (incoming d1 in fall), and whether I’d even be competitive enough.
 
Slueman33 said:
Deffinitley want to pursue a HPSP scholarship. Would give my soul to the gov if it meant forgiving loans. Just don’t know where to start, or if it’s too late (incoming d1 in fall), and whether I’d even be competitive enough.
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Still possible for 3 year HPSP
 
Slueman33 said:
400k all in (COA and taking into account interest accrual) is the price of my public in state. Hoping to all hell my interview results come out favorably.

Currently deposited at BostonU, OOS for me, and my all in figures are running at 525k with COA and interest accrual. Obviously not favorable.

Already coming in with 50k ug and 50k SMP debt. In my best case scenario this would be 500k all in at my public in state. 630k if Boston.

My top dollar number before even applying was 700k but I can’t beleive that’s actually being a stark reality. Your jaw may have dropped already, but I can confirm a colleague with 60k private UG + 85k SMP debt who will be matriculating at ASDOH, a 650k price tag alone. It is INSANE out here.

FWIW without the SMP I wouldn’t even be in a position to be able to pursue my oral health dreams. So to say I have too much debt coming in, well there was no alternative.

With 100k under my belt in loans already, and useless degrees outside of health professional school, my only other option is to eat the 100k and do what? Teach highschool science? Take part in the corporate rat race as a career changer towards tech? In this interest rate enviorment, surely tech firms would love to hire a completley unqualified former predent. I heard healthcare consulting LOVES non-harvard Yale Princeton pedigrees!! Or, I should just go for nursing or PA right, ezpz chill respected life!! Considering I entered this game to escape a future in pharmacy, maybe I should suck it up and just go back. ? Ok since I love science so much, why not work in a lab and grind my way towards a PhD? How fun!!

No. I’ll try to stay under 500k total debt. If I get my instate to take me, I’ll even live with my parents and they’ll support my living needs as they have been. I’m a single male in my 20s, I’ll get down right ratty to keep the debt low.

I agree with everyone in this thread, that with increasing tuition rates further, which has been reliably the case for the past decade, there will absolutely be a stigma to applying to dental school, and absolutely will hurt the economics of pumping out new schools so the institutional cycle will go through another boom and bust, but ultimately a bust would be a net benefit for practicing dentists, if we are solely focusing on the idea that more dentists is more competition, which means lower quality of life for everyone . Surely there are other factors, but economics 101 tells me this might be a big one.

But unfortunately (or not depending on the dice roll associated with the life being a GP deals me), I’m gonna have to service this debt and eat whatever hard times come my way. This is the reality of 2023 tuition rates. It’s like the black hole of sunk cost fallacies, I am on a one-way ride with no going back. Sort of exciting? Mostly terrifying. Thousands of pre-dental students across the country have this running through their head.

There are absolute silver linings however…If we want to provide some confirmation bias that the grass is indeed, not greener on the other side. Friends in tech and high finance, are each day, legitimately worried about the rise of AI. Friend in fintech said their dev desk is already planning on shedding some heads due to tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Co Pilot (these things are literally writing better code than their well pedigreed, highly educated humans). Let’s not forget the massive amount of useless white collar jobs especially administrative that should all rightfully be worried right now. I’d rather be a dentist with massive debt if AI keeps improving at its current trajectory. Very real stuff and I agree this paragraph even just a few years ago would have made me sound like a total nut. Times are changing, and I would feel safer as a dentist than a radiologist.

On this subject matter, let’s consider the impact of ChatGPT on just education alone. Personally I’ve used it extensively when it first dropped. All those extremely hard to grasp anatomical relationships in the pterygopalatine fossa suddenly explained like I’m five via ChatGPT. Just feeding it research papers and it explains the abstract methodologies and findings at the level it assumes I already understand. As I speak, it is helping me finish my prep my clinical anatomy presentation on subdural and epidural hematomas tomorrow. I finished my slides In 2 hrs it took my classmate with a 4.0 6 hrs. Full stop, admissions is about to be even more competitive. No better time to be a dental student with difficult didactic courses.

This is a hell of a tangent but all of this supports the notion that there are many variables in life. People like me hope that I have my own unique skill sets I may be able to leverage in order to service my debt and make the big bucks.

The ultimate cope I will conclude with, is that even in the worst case scenario with soul crushing debt, the title of being a dentist should net me some perks in finding some joy in life, financial or not. Hey Ill need to find myself a wife somehow!
Click to expand...
You are right. A BS degree in science is pretty much useless and the alternative options are worse than going to dental school. Just find a couple of roommates to share the apartment to save money. After graduation, move back to live with your parents….work hard for 3 straight years (think of this as a 3 years of low paid residency that medical students have to do after med school) to cut the debt in half. When you are ready to open your own office, spend as little as possible…an office doesn’t have to cost $500k to build….don’t listen to the equipment sale reps, who want you to buy their products.

Good luck! My nephew is currently a D4 at BU.
 
askadds said:
I have a real good friend that works as a regional manager to a major bank. He tells me they are hiring bank managers, essentially a teller that has been in the company for a few year and understands the bank operation, for about 100k a year with benefits. Lets let that sink in for a minute. 100k with benefits for someone with zero education. cough cough
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Not everyone is qualified to become a bank manager and makes $100k/year. If you fail to meet the office's production goal, your job will be replaced by someone else and you will start from zero again. Just because one is capable of earning a doctorate degree, it doesn’t mean that one is capable of performing any job.
 
askadds said:
I have a real good friend that works as a regional manager to a major bank. He tells me they are hiring bank managers, essentially a teller that has been in the company for a few year and understands the bank operation, for about 100k a year with benefits. Lets let that sink in for a minute. 100k with benefits for someone with zero education. cough cough
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How much experience?
 
charlestweed said:
Not everyone is qualified to become a bank manager and makes $100k/year. If you fail to meet the office's production goal, your job will be replaced by someone else and you will start from zero again. Just because one is capable of earning a doctorate degree, it doesn’t mean that one is capable of performing any job.
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If you are smart enough to get into d school, I am certain you can push paper around and smile.
 
askadds said:
If you are smart enough to get into d school, I am certain you can push paper around and smile.
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This really has r/restoftheowl vibes. Just because you can see A and C doesn't mean B is easy or possible for everyone. Very few things in life are guaranteed, and thinking like this ignores living situations and biases that do exist in an imperfect world. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have to pitch the idea. It'd just become the next over saturated market.

One idea I'm playing with is working a few years after school, or going straight into building a practice. There are some counties I grew up around that still don't have a dentist, or may have one dentist per 20k people. High need there.
 
askadds said:
If you are smart enough to get into d school, I am certain you can push paper around and smile.
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It’s not true. A lot of dentists have introvert personality and would not qualify to be a manager at one of the big banks. I am one of these dentists. I have to open my practice in low income area so I don’t have to sell….I just keep the fees low and patients accept treatments. None of my referring dentists is White because I am “scared” of talking to them (although they are very nice) due to cultural differences.

A lot of dentists don’t want to open their own practices because of their lack of social and management skills, which are necessary for the success of a business.
 
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askadds said:
If you are smart enough to get into d school, I am certain you can push paper around and smile.
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There is no guarantee that you will not be replaced with that occupation. In dentistry, you will have that security for life until you're ready to retire...
 
askadds said:
Here is a fun fact for you predents since many are still in denial. Below is data, for the last 10 years. YUP we have actually seen a 23.4% decrease in "real wages" relative to other professions. Only the serious gunners of gunners will be able to service this debt.

Airline pilots got sharpest pay increases since 2010; dentists, the smallest. See if your job made the list.

Dentist
Average pay increase: 5.3%


Average inflation-adjusted change: -23.4%


Average salary: $167,160
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Time to become an airline pilot and work 20-hour weeks w/free flight benefits
 
charlestweed said:
It sure is a good paying job if you don't mind going through a lengthy process to become an airline pilot. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-become-an-airline-pilot

If the process to become an airline pilot is too difficult, you can study to become a dancer, which is next on the list of the pay increase.
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That's true; it is a 1-2 year process to become a pilot ( around $80k debt). Then you fly for a regional for another 2 years (salary around $60k). Then your goal is to join a major airline like Delta, United, FedEx, etc., after having 1500 hours in the plane. After joining your major: First officers usually make around $100k their first year (stock and profit sharing), and then Senior Captains can range $250k-$500k depending on the plane they fly and the airlines. But the flight benefits, stock, profit sharing, and hours are unbelievable (20 hours a week). Way higher average hourly pay than dentists.

www.flyingmag.com

Pilot Career Earnings Top $13M, According to Flight School

When it comes to salary, airline pilot career earnings are comparable to a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, according to Sling Aviation Academy.
www.flyingmag.com www.flyingmag.com

Random article I found comparing engineers, pilots, lawyers, and doctors. Most pilots do get a bachelor's degree though, very few don't.
 
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Pre-dent22 said:
That's true; it is a 1-2 year process to become a pilot ( around $80k debt). Then you fly for a regional for another 2 years (salary around $60k). Then your goal is to join a major airline like Delta, United, FedEx, etc., after having 1500 hours in the plane. After joining your major: First officers usually make around $100k their first year (stock and profit sharing), and then Senior Captains can range $250k-$500k depending on the plane they fly and the airlines. But the flight benefits, stock, profit sharing, and hours are unbelievable (20 hours a week). Way higher average hourly pay than dentists.

www.flyingmag.com

Pilot Career Earnings Top $13M, According to Flight School

When it comes to salary, airline pilot career earnings are comparable to a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, according to Sling Aviation Academy.
www.flyingmag.com www.flyingmag.com

Random article I found comparing engineers, pilots, lawyers, and doctors. Most pilots do get a bachelor's degree, though very few don't.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's a good paying job. Since you are not in dental school yet (as your screen name implies), it's not too late to switch to study to become a pilot. But keep in mind that they can face furloughs when things like recessions, covid, the airlines file bankruptcy etc occur. This guys shares how much he gets paid as a pilot. I think it took him about 5-6 years (after finishing college) to get to where he is now.
 
Dentist salary from 2005-2018 stayed flat. Fewer people are seeing the dentist, and there are way more dental schools now. Dental insurance reimbursement is down and continues to decline.

People need to stick it to these schools charging $750k all-in. Don't apply. It's not worth it.
 
dent2394 said:
Dentist salary from 2005-2018 stayed flat. Fewer people are seeing the dentist, and there are way more dental schools now. Dental insurance reimbursement is down and continues to decline.

People need to stick it to these schools charging $750k all-in. Don't apply. It's not worth it.
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Inflation adjusted? We are down 25% since 2010!! God I remember we used to hire assistants for $12/hour, now less than $24/hour wont even come to the interview. HYG was $38-$45/hour and now its $65/hour. Its all gravy if our fees were directly proportional but they are not....SMH
 
askadds said:
Inflation adjusted? We are down 25% since 2010!! God I remember we used to hire assistants for $12/hour, now less than $24/hour wont even come to the interview. HYG was $38-$45/hour and now its $65/hour. Its all gravy if our fees were directly proportional but they are not....SMH
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You are over-paying your employees. I pay my office manager $20 an hour + $20 bonus for every new case acceptance. She has been with me for 20+ years. At 56, she is not gonna go find another job. She’ll stay with me until she retires. I pay my chairside assistant also $20 an hour and she is not an average assistant. She can assist ortho and perio surgeries. She can answer phone calls, sells cases, mops the floor, sterilizes instruments, takes x rays (PAs, Pano and Ceph) etc. this one has been with me for 15 years. I cross train both of them to perform multiple tasks so I don’t have to hire a lot of assistants.

It’s time for dentists to let go these overpaid hygienists and do their own cleanings. One can save $100k or more per year for not hiring the hygienist.

The staff salaries should be less than 15% of your overhead.
 
charlestweed said:
You are over-paying your employees. I pay my office manager $20 an hour + $20 bonus for every new case acceptance. She has been with me for 20+ years. At 56, she is not gonna go find another job. She’ll stay with me until she retires. I pay my chairside assistant also $20 an hour and she is not an average assistant. She can assist ortho and perio surgeries. She can answer phone calls, sells cases, mops the floor, sterilizes instruments, takes x rays (PAs, Pano and Ceph) etc. this one has been with me for 15 years. I cross train both of them to perform multiple tasks so I don’t have to hire a lot of assistants.

It’s time for dentists to let go these overpaid hygienists and do their own cleanings. One can save $100k or more per year for not hiring the hygienist.

The staff salaries should be less than 15% of your overhead.
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What is your production like, and how many days a week are you working?
 
Pre-dent22 said:
What is your production like, and how many days a week are you working?
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My daily production is pretty solid because I book a lot of patients in a day and each patient pays between $120-150 per office visit. But because I am in a very saturated market, I only have enough patients keep me busy 2.5 days a week (3 Sundays, 1 Saturday, 2 Tuesdays and 4 Wednesdays per month). I have 2 FT employees (whom I mentioned above) and the rest are PT chairside assistants who only work on the days we have patients. I work PT for the corp to supplement my income.

Yesterday, we had unexpectedly high volume of patients because my manager made a mistake in scheduling. I had to help sterilize the instruments while working along side with my 3 chairside assistants.
 
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