Specializing.... simple question

[RAlec114]

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Is it harder to create your own practice as a specialist? How many years extra does it take to become a specialist? How much more $$? Is the money spent on specializing worth it? I feel like all this money will = insane debt.

(Let's say 150k undergrad + 320k grad + _____specializing + buying a practice (~700k?) = insane debt?? with interest rate yes?? How do you all survive with this?)

 

[Shipponz]

depends on what speciality

I know
Pedo, Endo and maybe perio take 2 years.
OMFS- takes 4-6 years depending if you are doing DMD/MD
Ortho-takes 3 years
others are around the 2-3 year
Only 1 year residency is GPR and AEGD i believe

 

[anishannayya]

Is it harder to create your own practice as a specialist? How many years extra does it take to become a specialist? How much more $$? Is the money spent on specializing worth it? I feel like all this money will = insane debt.

(Let's say 150k undergrad + 320k grad + _____specializing + buying a practice (~700k?) = insane debt?? with interest rate yes?? How do you all survive with this?)

It is an investment. Sure you take on heavy debt; but you know that with time you will make it all back plus more. Furthermore, you will probably work as an associate until you pay down you student loans. You need to have a good debt/income ratio before banks will let you borrow money (at a reasonable interest rate).

In regards to surviving it, people are just frugal with their money. This is something that has been discussed many times on SDN. For example, don't buy a new car right out of college. Instead, buy an older used one until you pay off your loans.

 

[RAlec114]

It is an investment. Sure you take on heavy debt; but you know that with time you will make it all back plus more. Furthermore, you will probably work as an associate until you pay down you student loans. You need to have a good debt/income ratio before banks will let you borrow money (at a reasonable interest rate).

In regards to surviving it, people are just frugal with their money. This is something that has been discussed many times on SDN. For example, don't buy a new car right out of college. Instead, buy an older used one until you pay off your loans.

Oh okay I understand this better now. But isn't this all not worth it? I originally had thought that becoming a dentist would be glamorous financially - stable high income, with low work hours and not that much stress (compared to MD counterparts). But this makes it sound like a job that you spend the first 15years paying off debt and some more years looking to set up a private practice. Is this how it is? I guess I was pretty naive before.

 

[anishannayya]

Oh okay I understand this better now. But isn't this all not worth it? I originally had thought that becoming a dentist would be glamorous financially - stable high income, with low work hours and not that much stress (compared to MD counterparts). But this makes it sound like a job that you spend the first 15years paying off debt and some more years looking to set up a private practice. Is this how it is? I guess I was pretty naive before.

Is it worth it to you? If you want to make a lot of money, then your choosing the wrong field. If keeping up the Joneses is not an issue for you, then you will have a very comfortable life. That million dollar home just isn't necessary.

 

[Streetwolf]

Even while paying back loans, you still live comfortably.

Half the specialties actually pay a salary. I believe almost all GPR/AEGD programs pay somewhere in the 40k-55k range.

I think peds pays a stipend and OS pays a stipend during the years you aren't in med school classes.

The rest of them I think it depends what program you're in.

 

[RAlec114]

Is it worth it to you? If you want to make a lot of money, then your choosing the wrong field. If keeping up the Joneses is not an issue for you, then you will have a very comfortable life. That million dollar home just isn't necessary.

Well I guess I had the wrong idea. How much of your salary goes into paying student loans/debt a year?

 

[anishannayya]

Well I guess I had the wrong idea. How much of your salary goes into paying student loans/debt a year?

You will have minimum monthly payments you have to make. Of course, if you have the money, you can accelerate the payments so you don't have to pay interest. Suppose you take out a $250,000 loan @ a 10% interest rate and you have 30 years to pay it off. Then your monthly payment would be ~$750 for 30 years. This is how all loans work. You take out something that is unmanageable, but spread it out over a couple decades, and suddenly it seems like isn't a whole lot.

 

[Skygrandpager]

Well I guess I had the wrong idea. How much of your salary goes into paying student loans/debt a year?

In my opinion fear of debt should not result in stopping someone from become a dentist, However it may play an important part in choosing which dental school you may want to attend.
There are tons of very successful dentist and tons of not so successful ones who have probably graduated from every d school in the country. You should shadow a dentist, see what it's like, and ask him/her for some opinions.

 

[rnbaxter]

Oh okay I understand this better now. But isn't this all not worth it? I originally had thought that becoming a dentist would be glamorous financially - stable high income, with low work hours and not that much stress (compared to MD counterparts). But this makes it sound like a job that you spend the first 15years paying off debt and some more years looking to set up a private practice. Is this how it is? I guess I was pretty naive before.

Pretty much correct. For my father, he was in-debt till about age of 38 cause of his MD degree. Just have to make good business decisions and make good investments.

 

[RAlec114]

Pretty much correct. For my father, he was in-debt till about age of 38 cause of his MD degree. Just have to make good business decisions and make good investments.

thanks ok. I'll look into some cheap dental schools because I'm still interested in dentistry..

 

[emurocker]

Are ortho offices less expensive to set up?

I don't have exact numbers or anything, but from talking to the office managers of the dentists I shadowed--yes.

Basically, they explained to me that there's less overhead because for orthodontists there are more specific supplies to buy. Whereas for a general office there's a wide variety.

 

[JSingh]

Is it harder to create your own practice as a specialist? How many years extra does it take to become a specialist? How much more $$? Is the money spent on specializing worth it? I feel like all this money will = insane debt.

(Let's say 150k undergrad + 320k grad + _____specializing + buying a practice (~700k?) = insane debt?? with interest rate yes?? How do you all survive with this?)

150k debt from undegrad?!

 

[Denteeth]

You will have minimum monthly payments you have to make. Of course, if you have the money, you can accelerate the payments so you don't have to pay interest. Suppose you take out a $250,000 loan @ a 10% interest rate and you have 30 years to pay it off. Then your monthly payment would be ~$750 for 30 years. This is how all loans work. You take out something that is unmanageable, but spread it out over a couple decades, and suddenly it seems like isn't a whole lot.

how did you come up with that figure (~$750)? for that amount and with that rate, you are looking at around $2100-$2200 per month payment.....

 

[lmaozedong1]

150k debt from undegrad?!

Believe it or not, a LOT of dumb people do this...

 

[7 Iron]

150k debt from undegrad?!

I noticed that too... if your undergrad really was $150k, I hope your professors included the Pope for religion class, Barack Obama for poli sci, and Steven Hawking for physics 😀

 

[7 Iron]

how did you come up with that figure (~$750)? for that amount and with that rate, you are looking at around $2100-$2200 per month payment.....

Agreed. Check out: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]Loan Balance: .[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA] $250,000.00.[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]
Loan Interest Rate: .[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA] 10.00%.
[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA] Loan Term: .[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA] 30 years.[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]
. [FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]Monthly Loan Payment:.[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA] $2,193.93
.[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]Number of Payments: .[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA] 360.

p.s. I hope people don't have to take out loans at 10% interest. That's insanely high.

 

[vtizzy]

I don't have exact numbers or anything, but from talking to the office managers of the dentists I shadowed--yes.

Basically, they explained to me that there's less overhead because for orthodontists there are more specific supplies to buy. Whereas for a general office there's a wide variety.

I worked for an orthodontist and while I worked there, he opened up a new office. He took an old building and turned it into a new office and he spent well over a million and still was not able to do all that he wanted. He is going in stages. The construction cost where I live are not even that expensive.

I have talked to him a lot about different specialties and he has told me that he has a pretty large overhead. He told me that if you want a minimal overhead, go into endodontics. Small staff, little space needed, less equipment than others all add up to less overhead for you.

 

[hopefullyadent]

i am going to address a couple of comments:

First of all anishnnayaa said that if you're in it for the money this is the wrong field. i strongly despise when ppl say this..there is nothing wrong with wanting a high income...and dentistry is not the 'wrong field'.. a high income is necessary to ensure a stable life..and this is coming not from me but from MANY ppl i have talked to

Now for the OP's questions:

Most dentists I know seem to push for specializing. Ortho is becoming less and less profitable because of the high startup costs ( u do need a decent office to justify ur prices), the market is also SATURATED with orthos like every other mile lol..and GPs always have the liability if they do something not in their realm

But for now try to minimize student debt..spend wisely..and try to ace school and work very very hard (if ure lucky and if u work hard enough u might get a scholarhsip to dental school..and that would BE A GODSEND and HUGE ADVANTAGE