Student Loans for OMFS

[drcookie2531]

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Dental student here, with interest in pursuing oral surgery as a specialty.
I'm very concerned with pursuing a path that will leave me with $700,000 in debt (500 for DDS + 200 for OMFS 6yr). And that's not taking interest into account!

Anyone here have experience or plans in place regarding paying this off? Have your heard of others with this astronomical debt getting out within 10 years? Any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[bergus95]

Tough, but doable. I know people with close to 1 million in debt. Gonna have to work hard for a few years in nonideal locations.

 

[Sublimazing]

OMFS doesn’t have to add $200k...plenty of 6 year programs are a lot cheaper than that. My medical school cost $24k...they accepted food stamps for payment...and it was LSU Shreveport School of Medicine, what many consider to be the Yale of the South...an institution well known for its tolerance and diversity.

or avoid med school all together and do one of those 4 year OMFS-NP programs.

 

[Sublimazing]

And don’t worry about loans...I get $3250 for a set of wizzies under sedation that take 40 minutes...and 30 of those minutes are:

1. me telling the patient angrily “you know your veins roll?!!”

2. flirting with the assistant who is 12 years my junior

3. trying not to cry

4. asking “what is wrong with this drill?!!!”

5. crying a lot

6. accusing the sedated 16yo patient of being a heavy drug user

7. holding the tooth that made a fool of me in the forceps and forcing everyone in the room to agree it’s “the weirdest root anatomy we’ve ever seen”

8. checking my $200 investment in BTC, and convincing myself that it will one day allow me to retire

 

[Hockeytalk]

OMFS doesn’t have to add $200k...plenty of 6 year programs are a lot cheaper than that. My medical school cost $24k...they accepted food stamps for payment...and it was LSU Shreveport School of Medicine, what many consider to be the Yale of the South...an institution well known for its tolerance and diversity.

or avoid med school all together and do one of those 4 year OMFS-NP programs.

**** bro when do I get my nurse practitioner diploma

 

[maruprime]

Paying off your loans is heavily dependent on your salary, which is also dependent on where you practice. My friend works for a corporation in North Carolina. $100k per month is deposited into his account as a 1099. I work in California, Medicaid pays $660 for 45 minutes of sedation and 4 complete bony impactions. I get paid 33% of collections, so I actually get paid $220 for each 45 minute sedation. My effective tax rate that I just filed last week is 44% after federal and state income tax, so I actually get paid $130 for a set of wisdom teeth after tax.

 

[DDSER1]

Paying off your loans is heavily dependent on your salary, which is also dependent on where you practice. My friend works for a corporation in North Carolina. $100k per month is deposited into his account as a 1099. I work in California, Medicaid pays $660 for 45 minutes of sedation and 4 complete bony impactions. I get paid 33% of collections, so I actually get paid $220 for each 45 minute sedation. My effective tax rate that I just filed last week is 44% after federal and state income tax, so I actually get paid $130 for a set of wisdom teeth after tax.

Are there so little job options in California that you have to take this deal?

 

[charlestweed]

Paying off your loans is heavily dependent on your salary, which is also dependent on where you practice. My friend works for a corporation in North Carolina. $100k per month is deposited into his account as a 1099. I work in California, Medicaid pays $660 for 45 minutes of sedation and 4 complete bony impactions. I get paid 33% of collections, so I actually get paid $220 for each 45 minute sedation. My effective tax rate that I just filed last week is 44% after federal and state income tax, so I actually get paid $130 for a set of wisdom teeth after tax.

If you see 10 medicaid patients per 8-hr day, you make $2200/day, which is slightly more than what an associate orthodontist at the corp makes. And if you travel to multiple offices and work 20-22 days/month, you should make more than $500k/year. That’s the worst-case scenario. Not all OS patients at the corp have medicaid. Many patients have good insurance plans. Many patients use care credit to pay for their extractions. 44% is the tax rate but you don’t have to pay that much in taxes. After all the deductions (gas mileage, lease car, malpractice insurance, home mortgage interest, 401k etc), it should be under 30%. You need a good CPA.

 

[drcookie2531]

And don’t worry about loans...I get $3250 for a set of wizzies under sedation that take 40 minutes...and 30 of those minutes are:

1. me telling the patient angrily “you know your veins roll?!!”

2. flirting with the assistant who is 12 years my junior

3. trying not to cry

4. asking “what is wrong with this drill?!!!”

5. crying a lot

6. accusing the sedated 16yo patient of being a heavy drug user

7. holding the tooth that made a fool of me in the forceps and forcing everyone in the room to agree it’s “the weirdest root anatomy we’ve ever seen”

8. checking my $200 investment in BTC, and convincing myself that it will one day allow me to retire

I'm sure you're incredible at what you do, but you missed out on a career as a comedian.
Thank you for the laugh and the reassurance.

 

[Likkriue]

Dittoing the above, either do well in UG and get into a cheap dental school, if you screw that up.......

Then do well in dental school and set yourself up to match into a OS program with either cheap tuition/no-tuition (if you want the MD for whatever reason) or a four year OS program.