What are career paths after dds/mba?

[applicant]

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Hi.

Does anyone know what people, who get both dds and mba degree, do?

I am interested in dentistry but also I like econ/finance courses.
It would be cool if I could incoporate this business side into dentistry.

I know that there's a lot of dental schools that offer both dds/mba degree to be completed in 5 years. But I have no clue what people with these both dds/mba do.

If after getting after both dds/mba, you work only on the business(consulting) side...then what is dds degree for?

Like...I said I have no clue about this...I would love to learn about the career paths after dds/mba.

I would appreciate if anyone who knows about this career path or especially anyone who is pursuing this dds/mba path could provide input on this.

 

[thisisit]

become a waiter at the local Italian joint...


Why the h#ll would you want to go through the misery and expense of dental school and then not practice dentistry? If you don't like the practice of dentistry, stop now. It will be a lot harder to quit when you owe$300k and making $60k as a consultant. One of my classmates quit after 2 years. He is in construction, and I don't mean the business side of it. He works as a construction worker.

I hope my responses are not too harsh. It's just that at this point you need to be concentrating on one task. Graduation from dental school! Don't confuse yourself. I wish I had someone to knock sense in me the first year. I almost flunked out the first semester. I was still thinking about how I was going to party on the weekend and talk to girlfriends back home. My GPA never recovered. My rank top half of the class but not good enough for specialty program (in retrospect, I'm happier as a GP).

 

[UBTom]

to applicant:

If nothing else, those combined DDS/MBA programs do one thing for you: It may make you more proficient at running your own practice once you graduate.

If you want to own your own practice, it's 50% being a dentist and 50% being a businessman. Of course, with that MBA you might have an advantage when doing something else like managing your own investments for your eventual retirement.

Just keep in mind what Dr. thisisit says-- Even though you will be running a business as a dentist in private practice, remember that your primary business is dentistry (for the first 20-30 years anyway) and you should be sure dentistry is for you before getting into it. 😀

HTH!

 

[init4damoney]

I agree with the previous posts. Denstistry should be the main focus. That doesn't mean you shouldn't get a MBA. A family friend who is a dentist hardly does any work now. He owns a clinic and hires dentists. He just provides the chairs, assistants, equipment, etc. The only time he does anything is when it's a big problem. But he practiced for who knows how long before he actually started doing this. Most of his time is spent either on the golf course or traveling to foreign countries to train dentists there. What a life!

 

[thisisit]

It takes a different personality to hire dentists and have them work for you. It can be done and many people make a lot of money this way. I had the same dreams in my senior year. Once I got out, I realized that I am anal-retentive and actually care what goes into patients mouth. I love the fact that if my name is on the door, I have done all the dental work. This does not mean that you should not do the multiple location/associate thing. Just get to know yourself first.

I'm sure MBAs are quite helpful if you want to run a 10 clinic operation.

 

[mmapcpro]

I know a few dentists that have an MBA...

they are practicing dentistry daily...they seem to be pretty successful at it...possibly the education they recieved during the MBA has helped them run their business better...

in fact, if there is one thing that I hear from dentists often is that they didn't get any formal training on how to run a business, so they either opt to get an MBA or they try to grab as many CE classes as possible...many hire consultants...

I think the MBA for dentists is not so much for their resume (although there are several guys on the lecture circuit that supplement their income by consulting all the dentists that have no clue how to run their business at high efficiency).

 

[thisisit]

I guess it can't hurt. I come from a family of business owners and ran my dad's business after high-school. Also, while in college I managed another small business. So, it came to me naturally. I really don't think it's that hard to run a business. It's mostly common sense. If you can master the art/science of dentistry, you should be able to run a dental practice. If you need help, there always CE courses you can take to help you. IMHO, spending another 2 years to get an MBA to be able to run your practice efficiently, is a waste.

A better way would be to be an associate for a while and learn what to do and what not to do from an existing business. When I graduated, the job market was pretty bad for dentists. While most of my classmates decided to park their behinds on the couch until the right job came about and hit them in the head, I worked for 3 temping agencies. I did hygiene mainly for about $25-$30/hr and some dentistry for a bit more. The advantage was that I saw many many practices. It was a great experience. I did this for 2 months and then got a job at a public aid clinic, another good experience (not as in I loved it, but a good experience to have under your belt).

Now if you want to open up 16 offices and be a six-million-dollar man, you may need an MBA. Even then, you should hire professionals such as accountants, CPAs, consultant to help you. You are the dentist...

 

[larryt]

Originally posted by thisisit
It takes a different personality to hire dentists and have them work for you. It can be done and many people make a lot of money this way.

I thought about this idea 3 years ago and this was a primary reason I tried to get into Hygiene program. But after I tried out DAT practice test last Jan, heck I abandoned the idea and applied to dental school. My wife's older bro with bachelor degree in business has ran a successful dental office in Dallas for 6 yrs. He has 2 full time and 1 part time dentists working for him.