So I read that many forum members do a post-DDS/DMD residency for endo, perio, pedo, etc. Can a general dentist also practice these areas when he feels confident in doing so and with relevant CE courses? Let's say you really love general dentistry but want to do endos twice a week the entire day. Is that possible? The reason general dentistry seems appealing to me is exactly because you have all these different aspects of it. Or is specialization meant for those who ONLY want to treat children or do endos, etc.?
If you specialize, you have to stay on your own turf or risk getting no referrals, regardless of how good you are. An endodontist in my area got burned for doing other work, even if it's understandable that the patient was being sedated, but did not ask for permission to work on all the other areas. Word spreads fast.
Can you really still be profitable owning a practice nowadays if you just do basic dentistry?(hygiene,crowns,fillings). I feel like it will be hard without incorporating any of these.
You can, depending on how aggressive your periodontal diagnosis tends to be, and whether you recommend crowns more than fills. The missing piece here is endo + ext/graft. If you include hygiene, restorative, and endo, then you can be more profitable with hygiene and restorative alone. In a PPO office, reimbursements for 3rds is not very high for GP's, so impacted thirds are not as profitable with a lot more risk. Endo/ext brings in emergency patients which can then be converted into a complete exam eventually. For peds, peds emergencies are usually not profitable, higher stress, and unless you're doing roundhouse SSC's consistently in the OR, it's not as profitable without the volume. Also, medicaid reimbursements are trending downwards and less predictable for these cases, so hypothetical production doesn't necessarily equate to true collection. Perio surgery is also less predictable and more technique sensitive, so I've been shying away from doing soft tissue grafting procedures.
Hygiene, restorative, endo and ext/graft should be sufficient to have a profitable practice. Implants are not a must if you have the fundamentals down, but it's just the cherry on top.
Many people do it. Just keep your overhead low and don't make everything so extravagant. Oh yeah and provide excellent customer service and don't see patients as just a number; as a GP they are your network and marketing.
Internal marketing works well, but it's a slow/stable growth without external marketing.
