What happens after dental school?

[reddy123]

Hey guys I am currently pursuing an undergrad bio major and I was curious about dentistry. I believe I have a good general understanding of what it takes to get into dental school but I have no idea what dentists do after dental school.

I've heard that some people use this time to specialize which would be similar to a residency right? Do you get paid like a typical resident if you do this? How long does this period last on average?--i know the specialty you choose probably dictates this right?

What about those that want to practice dentistry right away? Dont most dentists have their own practices? Are you just expected to open up a practice right after dental school? Wouldn't that be really expensive? Would it be difficult to try and find a job as a dentist for an already well established practice?

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[whodat4life]

Hey guys I am currently pursuing an undergrad bio major and I was curious about dentistry. I believe I have a good general understanding of what it takes to get into dental school but I have no idea what dentists do after dental school.

I've heard that some people use this time to specialize which would be similar to a residency right? Do you get paid like a typical resident if you do this? How long does this period last on average?--i know the specialty you choose probably dictates this right?

What about those that want to practice dentistry right away? Dont most dentists have their own practices? Are you just expected to open up a practice right after dental school? Wouldn't that be really expensive? Would it be difficult to try and find a job as a dentist for an already well established practice?

After dental school, you can either specialize (residency) or work for a dentist as an associate, and if you're feeling really brave...open your own dental practice.

Some residencies are paid, and some are not. Yes, the specialty you choose dictates how long your residency will be.
Ortho-~ 2 years (27 months at my school)
Perio - 3 years
Oral Surgery - 4 or 6 years (six if you chose to get the MD as well)
Pedo (kids) - 2 years
Implant - 3 years
Prostho - 3 years
Endo - 2 years (27 mo at my school)
Dental Anesthesiology - 27 months - get paid for this one @ LLU

So, basically you have a broad range of programs here...it really depends on the school and your specialty. It can be anywhere from you having to pay to do it, them waiving tuition and not paying salary, to you having tuition waived AND getting salary.

About after dental school - more and more graduates are having to go into an associate position after dental school because the market just doesn't favor a new, from-scratch start-up like it used to. It's just too expensive...when you have 350-500k of student loan debt piled on your head to open a practice.

From what I hear, it isn't too difficult to find a job right now, but with the gazillion schools they keep opening up every year and tuition rates forcing new grads into associateships...I would expect it to get harder in the future. This is just purely my opinion though, it may not happen like this...but it's definitely a possibility. If you just sit down and workup a rough sheet on how much it would cost to run a dental practice with tons of student debt and current tax rates CRUSHING the middle class right now...you will see what I'm talking about.

Don't get me wrong, I love dentistry and I would do it no matter what I made. It's a passion of mine, so if you feel that same passion it's a great choice. However, if you're going into it for the money...those days are coming to an end. Money is near the end of my list of things that attract me to the profession, but nonetheless is important. I love the idea of running my own business and being able to make my own rules...and a more relaxed atmosphere than say working in an ER somewhere. Hope this helps, and best of luck to you!!!

 

[Doc Smile]

Hey guys I am currently pursuing an undergrad bio major and I was curious about dentistry. I believe I have a good general understanding of what it takes to get into dental school but I have no idea what dentists do after dental school.

Congrats on Starting your journey!

I've heard that some people use this time to specialize which would be similar to a residency right? Do you get paid like a typical resident if you do this? How long does this period last on average?--i know the specialty you choose probably dictates this right?

Residents get paid like medical residents following the PGY scale (post graduate year) So a PGY-1 makes ~$40,000-45,000 and that increases each year. Please correct me if I am wrong!

Oral surgery is the longest which is 4 years or 6 years depending on the program and if you get an MD or not (the extra 2 years is for the last two years of medical school). Perio is 3 years, I think ortho is 2 years, etc.

What about those that want to practice dentistry right away? Dont most dentists have their own practices? Are you just expected to open up a practice right after dental school? Wouldn't that be really expensive? Would it be difficult to try and find a job as a dentist for an already well established practice?

Most dentists do have their own practice but the trend is now towards dual ownership or associateships. Many just graduated dnetal students will go work as an associate (a well paid employee) for a dentists for a few years, then, after they are faster and better at their work and have ideas on how they want to run a practice, they typically go of and open their own business or 'buy in' to the current practice. Of course, we are trained enough in dental school to go out and start a practice but that is more uncommon and costs lots of dough.

I just scratched the surface here with the possibilities. Hopefully others will chime in and give you a comprehensive picture of what dental school/ dentistry life is like. My best advice to you would be to shadow a general dentist during undergrad as well as many of the specialties. Just walk in and say, "Yo! Let me shadow you!" But seriously, if you go in to an office and express your interest in dentistry, most dentists would be more than happy to let you shadow. That is where you will get most of your questions answered.

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[Streetwolf]

Few points.

1. Ortho can be 3 years (~36 months) like it is at the d-school I went to (SB).

2. To practice out of dental school you need to pass a licensing exam such as the WREB for west coast or the NERB which is accepted in 40+ states. I honestly don't know too much about the WREB.

3. To practice in NY (and a couple states offer it as an alternative to the licensing exam such as CT), you need to complete at least 1 year post-grad training (PGY-1). For general dentistry this would be a GPR (general practice residency) or an AEGD (advanced education in general dentistry). The difference is that a GPR is hospital based and requires rotation time such as anesthesia, ER, primary care, on call, etc. It also includes specializing in any of the 9 dental specialties....

4. ...of which implant dentistry and dental anesthesia are NOT included. I'm assuming 3 years is the length of some implant programs and 2-3 years for the anesthesia. They are NOT specialties (at least yet).

5. Pay rates vary. A good rule of thumb is that a hospital based program (GPR, OMFS, Pedo, and also AEGD despite not having the rotations) will pay you to work there. Anything more "academic" (perio, ortho, prosth, etc) will not. There ARE exceptions to this. I've heard of a couple prosth programs that pay. Also if you do the 6 year OMFS, you have to pay tuition for the 2 years in med school. The above poster is correct in that you will get whatever PGY year salary the hospital pays. However, different hospitals pay different salaries. My program is around $47,000 for PGY-1. It goes up a couple thousand each year you advance, though I'm only here for the one year. This is in NJ and I found most NJ hospitals pay $45,000 to $50,000. Compare this to a lot of NYC-area hospitals (including Long Island) that pay $55,000 to $65,000.

6. I personally chose to do a GPR because (a) I had no desire to specialize by my 4th year of dental school, (b) it would allow me to work in NY if I chose to, and (c) I am surrounded by general dentists and specialists who are there to SUPPORT me in a setting where I am learning how to be my own critic. I'm learning how to be confident in my work, build speed, and gain experience with the benefit of having attendings around to whom I can go if I ever needed help. I can learn more advanced procedures and be comfortable doing so since I know someone is there if I ever run into a problem. Yes I'm sacrificing a year of better pay but I think in the long run this will be more than worth it.

7. All the GPR and AEGD programs are 12 months (July 1 to June 30). I'm pretty sure there are no exceptions (unless something forces you to start late or miss too much time in the middle). Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Flosstooth]

I worked for a guy for a couple of years and then hung a shingle and waited for patients to walk in. It took a while........but they started flowing in slowly.

I kept my overhead very low by buying used equipment and finishing out a modest office. If I produced $1.......I managed to hang on to $0.75.

This was 20 years ago. I think it can still be done

 

[whodat4life]

Ok, so I didn't mean they are specialties technically designated by the ADA. I was referring to them as residencies...and that's what they are.

Few points.

4. ...of which implant dentistry and dental anesthesia are NOT included. I'm assuming 3 years is the length of some implant programs and 2-3 years for the anesthesia. They are NOT specialties (at least yet).

 

[whodat4life]

I worked for a guy for a couple of years and then hung a shingle and waited for patients to walk in. It took a while........but they started flowing in slowly.

I kept my overhead very low by buying used equipment and finishing out a modest office. If I produced $1.......I managed to hang on to $0.75.

This was 20 years ago. I think it can still be done

1) this is not 20 years ago...boy do we all wish it were.

2) it's impossible to take home 3/4 of your gross if you're running a private practice. You can't possibly be cheapskate enough to do this. The best I've ever heard is 45% of gross practice income, and that's a far fetch.

 

[HoustonDAT]

1) this is not 20 years ago...boy do we all wish it were.

2) it's impossible to take home 3/4 of your gross if you're running a private practice. You can't possibly be cheapskate enough to do this. The best I've ever heard is 45% of gross practice income, and that's a far fetch.

Perhaps you should take a look at dental town. The dentist who started, IMO, the greatest thread on dental town called "I would like to extract teeth?" has an overhead of 25% (not a typo).

There are more examples of low overhead practices on dental town, but his was the best documented (the thread was started in 2009 and has almost 1400 pages to it).

 

[Daurang]

1) this is not 20 years ago...boy do we all wish it were.

2) it's impossible to take home 3/4 of your gross if you're running a private practice. You can't possibly be cheapskate enough to do this. The best I've ever heard is 45% of gross practice income, and that's a far fetch.

My general practice overhead last year was 25%. My overhead any year over 10 years have never passed 35%. Yes it can be done. Yes be a cheapskate...don't build your practice for $400K. Build it for $80K. I did it 10 years ago. Another member 'Coldfront' just did it this year. No big deal really.

Now if I can find a cheap source for rotary files and obturators, I can bring my overhead down even more. These things are ridiculously expensive.

 

[whodat4life]

My general practice overhead last year was 25%. My overhead any year over 10 years have never passed 35%. Yes it can be done. Yes be a cheapskate...don't build your practice for $400K. Build it for $80K. I did it 10 years ago. Another member 'Coldfront' just did it this year. No big deal really.

Now if I can find a cheap source for rotary files and obturators, I can bring my overhead down even more. These things are ridiculously expensive.

Wow, I'm impressed. This is one place where I'm more than happy to be wrong. I thought the general consensus around here was that anything around 50-55% was average/good. Thanks for sharing though!!!

 

[whodat4life]

Perhaps you should take a look at dental town. The dentist who started, IMO, the greatest thread on dental town called "I would like to extract teeth?" has an overhead of 25% (not a typo).

There are more examples of low overhead practices on dental town, but his was the best documented (the thread was started in 2009 and has almost 1400 pages to it).

I'm impressed guys, and I'm more than happy to be wrong.

 

[rantopad]

As you prepare to select a dental assistant school, it is only natural that you find yourself filled with curiosity about the future. You may think. You may even discover yourself dwelling upon what will happen after you obtain your dental assistant degree.

 

[Daurang]

Wow, I'm impressed. I thought the general consensus around here was that anything around 50-55% was average/good. Thanks for sharing though!!!

General consensus seems to be 55% as you stated. There are those with only 20% overhead such as my friend in Seattle. There are those with 80% overhead, such as one in SoCal discussed in dentaltown.

 

[yappy]

So... one day I was shadowing an endodontist. It was a great experience and seemed like a sweet gig. He had his practice in an area that looked to be cheaper than a high exposure GP office; and seemed limited to endo supplies. I imagine his overhead was fairly low. On the other hand, I saw as he worked through his patient list at a pretty decent speed and was billing ALOT for RCT. Is it safe to say that endodontists do fairly well?

Big production - little overhead = large take home?

 

[mike3kgt]

So... one day I was shadowing an endodontist. It was a great experience and seemed like a sweet gig. He had his practice in an area that looked to be cheaper than a high exposure GP office; and seemed limited to endo supplies. I imagine his overhead was fairly low. On the other hand, I saw as he worked through his patient list at a pretty decent speed and was billing ALOT for RCT. Is it safe to say that endodontists do fairly well?

Big production - little overhead = large take home?

Endo is the best secret in dental specialties. These guys are making a killing. But you have to like doing endo... not an easy task!

And no, they are not dying because of dental implants. Maybe we're not trying as hard in the past but molar endo is not going away anytime soon. They may lose some easy anterior cases due to the GPs doing more and more, but I assure you this specialty will be around for a while.

 

[whodat4life]

General consensus seems to be 55% as you stated. There are those with only 20% overhead such as my friend in Seattle. There are those with 80% overhead, such as one in SoCal discussed in dentaltown.

So I know SoCal is not on my list of places to practice lol. That's just pretty silly to work somewhere and make 20% when you can make 50-75% somewhere else. Just one man's opinion though.